Aug 26, 2022 - News

Most Massachusetts kids have had COVID

Data: CDC; Map: Simran Parwani/Axios

Nearly three-fourths of Massachusetts children have had COVID-19, according to recent surveys from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Driving the news: The CDC estimates that 74% of Massachusetts children had COVID-19 antibodies as of June 25, based on testing of 628 blood samples.

  • The agency believes that 80% of children nationwide have been infected at some point.

State of play: Massachusetts schools have loosened restrictions aimed at preventing COVID's spread in the classroom. At the same time, the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron has become the dominant strain in the U.S.

Of note: A group of public health experts, labor leaders and advocates are calling on state officials to consider mask mandates early on in a new surge, and to take other steps to prevent the disease's spread, per the State House News Service.

  • Massachusetts does not seem keen on reimplementing any precautions, citing new CDC guidelines that no longer require people exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine.
  • State officials told districts they are "not recommending universal mask requirements, surveillance testing of asymptomatic individuals" or other steps for the upcoming year, per SHNS.
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