Health advocates urge COVID restrictions with proms, graduations underway
BROCKTON (CBS) – As COVID cases rise across the country, the CDC is now recommending people wear masks in more areas.
"I wish more people took the masking seriously," said Victoria Kirichok-Pratt, a Brockton mother who spoke with WBZ while quarantining in her home with COVID Thursday. More than anything else, she hopes her son, a senior at Brockton High, won't miss anything. "Prom is next week, and graduation is the week after, so I have been avoiding him very much."
The timing is less than ideal with high rates of COVID in wastewater samples, and most of Massachusetts now in the high-risk category. A group of health advocates is calling on Governor Charlie Baker to reinstate safety measures.
"I think there's been a pendulum swing where we've gone from doing a lot to reduce transmission to saying we reject all of it, but the thing is, the virus is still here," said Boston University School of Public Health Assistant Professor Julia Raifman.
She's with the Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity, which put out a list of demands this week. The group wants the state to recommend people wear masks indoors and avoid large gatherings. They also want Massachusetts to reinstate mask mandates in schools and on the MBTA, and increase access to testing, treatment, and vaccines.
The governor has not given any signal he plans to bring back mandates. "I think at this point in time for most people, especially those who are vaccinated, their experience with COVID is something akin to the flu," Baker said.
But it is hitting at an inconvenient time, as some of life's most important milestones get underway. "Graduation's in a couple weeks," said Framingham High School Senior Jason Simon, as he picked up his prom tuxedo Thursday. "Hopefully by then we'll be fine, but no one really knows," he said.
