The number of probable and confirmed COVID-19-related deaths at long-term care homes in Massachusetts topped 5,000 on Wednesday, again emphasizing the toll the coronavirus is having on some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
The number of the deaths at the facilities rose to 5,007 - or 63% of all deaths in Massachusetts attributed to the disease.
Overall, the state recorded another 48 deaths Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed and probable COVID-19-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 7,938.
There were 172 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, recorded Wednesday - bringing the total number of cases to more than 107,600 in Massachusetts.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 ticked down slightly to 939 compared to the 953 reported Tuesday.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care remained stable 181.
The number of patients requiring intubation also ticked down to 98 on Wednesday compared to 112 on Tuesday.
___
COURTHOUSES REOPENING
Massachusetts courthouses will begin physically reopening to the public for limited purposes July 13 - including for some in-person proceedings - even as courts continue to conduct most business virtually, the state Supreme Judicial Court ordered Wednesday.
The number of in-person proceedings will expand during a second phase beginning Aug. 10, under the order.
Before each phase, Trial Court departments will identify the new matters they will be addressing in person on the court system’s COVID-19 website.
Until July 13, clerks’, registers’, and recorder’s offices will continue to conduct business virtually, except in certain emergency situations. Beginning July 13, the offices will physically reopen to the public, while still trying to conduct business virtually as much as possible.
Anyone trying to enter court offices after July 13 will be screened to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to the justices.
Jury trials in both criminal and civil cases in state courts continue to be postponed to a date no earlier than Sept. 8.
Starting July 13, judges may begin to schedule civil and criminal bench trials. No new grand jury can be empaneled before Sept. 8.
___
SOLDIERS’ HOME
The leadership of a home for aging veterans in Massachusetts where nearly 80 residents sickened with the coronavirus have died made “substantial errors and failures” as the disease began to spread, likely contributing to the high death toll, according to an independent investigation released Wednesday.
The superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home was not qualified to manage a long-term care facility and he and his leadership team made decisions that were “utterly baffling from an infection-control perspective,” the report said.
Among them was a decision to move veterans from one dementia unit into another, both of which housed veterans who already had the virus.
“This overcrowding was the opposite of infection control; instead, it put those who were asymptomatic at even greater risk of contracting COVID-19,” the report said.
The investigation was conducted by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein, who was hired by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
___
Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.