MA Has No Plans To Change Rules Despite COVID Rebound

Massachusetts has no plans to bring back any restrictions or mandates despite increasingly worrisome coronavirus statistics across the state.

"We're not looking at changing any of our existing rules or policies," Gov. Charlie Baker said in a Thursday morning news conference in Sandwich, less than 30 miles from the site of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in months.

Baker cited the efficacy of vaccines as to why things will stay the way there are — at least for now.

"The vaccines are overwhelmingly effective," he said.

While the situation is still far from the pandemic's darkest days, the signs of a COVID-19 rebound are casting a familiar shadow.

The state on Wednesday reported 457 new cases of the virus, by far its biggest number since before Baker dropped the mask mandate. The daily average of cases is about four times more than its low point this summer.

There have also been more than 5,000 breakthrough cases — meaning people who have been vaccinated but still caught the virus.

Hundreds of cases have been confirmed on the Cape in the past week, many stemming from a large outbreak in Provincetown. Nantucket recently joined Provincetown in asking people to wear masks while inside or in public places.

The former head of the Massachusetts Medical Society said he is concerned that the "exponential growth" will lead to more shutdowns.

While the vaccines have proven effective — nearly all of the COVID-19 cases that require hospitalization have been among the unvaccinated — breakthrough cases are popping up and inoculations have plateaued.

The Delta variant is being blamed for the resurgence of COVID-19. The strain is said to be even more contagious than the one that swept through the country in 2020, and researchers are looking into whether it's any more resistant to vaccines.