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Survey of Mass. residents ties viral surge to increased indoor gatherings

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WBUR, November 2020

As the rate of new confirmed COIVD-19 cases surges in Massachusetts, a recent survey of state residents suggests that an increasing number of Bay Staters have been engaging in activities that public health experts say are feeding the viral outbreak.

For the past several months, a team of researchers from Northeastern University, Harvard, Rutgers and Northwestern University have been conducting a 50-state survey aimed at gauging how people’s behaviors have changed during the pandemic.

In October, survey respondents were asked whether they had, in the past 24 hours, gathered indoors with people who did not live in the same household. About 45% of survey respondents from Massachusetts said that they had. According to many health experts, including those interviewed by WBUR and NPR, the risk of coronavirus transmission increases when people who do not live together gather indoors.

Continue reading at WBUR.

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