Quincy hit with a dramatic uptick in the local COVID-19 infection rate

– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

The COVID-19 virus
A CDC image via Getty Images

Quincy hit with a dramatic uptick in the local COVID-19 infection rate.

Per yesterday’s Massachusetts Department of Public Health weekly COVID-19 update, Quincy has seen a dramatic uptick in the two measures used to determine local COVID-19 risk ratings.

Per the infection rate per 100,000 – and which Quincy Quarry views as the more reliable measure, Quincy COVID-19 infection rates are up by roughly a third from last week and are now almost twice as high as what warrants a  COVID-19 Yellow Zone risk rating.

However, even after adjusting for the recently increased standards for risk rating notwithstanding, twice as many infections per 100,000 that warrant a Yellow Zone risk rating does not result in a Red Zone rating. 

COVID testing
A Steve Parsons Image

In fact, the Department of Public Health does not impose a Red Zone risk rating for higher infection rates.

Rather, the department only assigns a Red Zone COVID-19 risk rating if the positive test response rate also goes above 4% for those tested along with the 10 cases or higher per 100,000 rate which alone can give rise to a Yellow Zone risk rating.  At this point, Quincy’s latest positive test rate is 2.67%, an increase of 31% from last week’s weeks 2.02%.

Local COVID-19 infection rates continue to soar higher – much higher …
Image via the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Quincy Quarry finds this risk rating protocol problematic as cases per 100,000 is a relativity hard metric as testing positive is testing positive whereas positive testing rates per the number of tests administered can be readily influenced by – for example – excessive testing by healthy hypochondriacs.

Equally troubling, given a lower weekly increase in positive testing rates of 22% over the next two weeks, Quincy would hit the 4% positive test rate and so be slapped with Red Zone risk status.

Further troubling, Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch has not posted on the City of Quincy’s website a COVID-19 YouTube update since Quincy was creatively represented as still being in Green Zone risk status earlier this month. 

Instead, he posted a YouTube video yesterday of the lighting up of his thirty million dollar Kim Joch Koch Plaza for the holiday season. 

No word, however, if Nero provided the musical accompaniment on his lyre for this arguably dissembling photo op.

That and Mayor Koch also posted earlier a very lightly viewed so far Thanksgiving Greeting YouTube on Wednesday to tout what per the tell that is his waistline is surely his favorite day of the year.

Avoidance behavior as regards the dire COVID-19 news over the past two Fridays notwithstanding, Quincy is still looking likely to be hit with Red Zone risk status in perhaps but a couple of weeks.

Quincy Mayor Koch is also the Chair of the School Committee
A statusmind.com meme

In turn, such would – among other things – force Mayor Koch’s aggressively moving local public schools to a hybrid learning model last month to have to return to full time remote learning as well as before the Christmas vacation and so further stressing already stressed parents.

Additionally note that with Quincy looking likely to be hit with Red Zone COVID-19 status also looking likely be contemporaneous with local taxpayers going Code Red/DEFCON One over the expected to be ugly local 2021 local property taxes increases.

Needless to say, Quincy Quarry’s every going legions of loyal readers can count on the Quarry to provide comprehensive blow by blow coverage as things hit the fan.

QQ disclaimer