Health

Carpooling, extracurriculars, small social gatherings driving Needham COVID-19 surge

NEEDHAM, Mass. — As smaller social gatherings continue to fuel the spread of COVID-19 across the Commonwealth, health officials in Needham are putting together a new awareness campaign to sound the alarms.

According to the town’s Health Director, Timothy McDonald, the virus is primarily spreading locally in three different ways: extracurricular activities, social gatherings, and at-home transmission.

“They need to really consider their social interactions and prioritize the most important functions, but reduce overall the number of activities they’re doing,” McDonald said Friday.

McDonald said one goal of the campaign is to highlight everyday tasks that some people may not realize are risky, some of which include at-home hangouts with friends, sleepovers, small dinner parties, and carpooling to and from sports practices.

“If a typical family during a typical fall would have their kids playing two or three sports and a couple of extracurricular activities like a play or art classes, they really need to prioritize and cut down on all of their potential exposures.”

Kathleen Brown, the Chair of the Needham Board of Health, added that she is helping create the awareness campaign to push out before Thanksgiving when friends and family often get together.

“We have two weeks before college students start coming home and families start gathering, so I think we need to get some at least preliminary messaging out there,” she told Boston 25 News.

Brown warned that people need to start tightening their inner circles and limiting their social time in a concept called “social budgeting.”

“Is this contact worth it, is your sphere interacting with someone else’s, and how tight is it?” she explained.

According to McDonald, the transmission of COVID-19 in Needham is the worst it has been since the pandemic began.

He reminded people that a “close contact” is considered anyone who is within a 6-foot distance for a cumulative total of 15 minutes over a 24 hour period.

“We’re asking a lot but we kind of have a few more months to keep buckling down, and I know we can do it,” said Brown.

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