Nearly Half Of Medford Coronavirus Cases Are Young Adults

MEDFORD, MA — Medford has seen a spike in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, and close to half of them are among younger adults, officials said. In her weekly update Friday, Health Director MaryAnn O'Connor said 27 percent of cases have been among people in the 20-29 age range, and 21 percent have been among people aged 30-39.

"Even though they may get less ill, they're spreaders, and they can spread it to folks who can get seriously ill," O'Connor said.

Medford has seen an "alarming number of cases" over the past two weeks, O'Connor said, averaging about 16 per day. The city reported 22 cases on Nov. 11 alone, its highest single-day case count since May.

The daily average is "far over what we had when we were in the old metrics and in the red," Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said.

One bright spot: officials said transmission of the virus in schools has been "extremely" low. The Medford Public Schools has been gradually phasing in grades since early October, starting hybrid learning for all of K-8 and preparing to start some vocational programs this week. Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent said the district is addressing air quality concerns at the high school to bring students back there as well.

In partnership with Tufts University and Armstrong Ambulance, MPS is finalizing the plan to roll out free student testing after Thanksgiving.

"We aren't seeing in-school transmission, which is great," O'Connor said.

Residents are cautioned against gathering with people from outside their immediate households over the holidays. Though hospitalizations are not what they were in the spring, they are rising rapidly, O'Connor said.

"We can avoid unnecessary tragedies over the holidays when we're so close to this finish line, toward the vaccine," she said.