Skip to content
Navigating a New Political Landscape: View real-time updates about the impact of and Northeastern’s response to recent political changes.
Apply
Stories

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

People in this story

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.

More Stories

Map of the continental US, highlighting 18 states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Map Shows States Where Carcinogens Detected in Drinking Water Sources

07.15.2025
A utility pole in Cleveland with a camera attatched.

Cleveland is spending millions on a controversial gunshot detection system. Is it making us safer?

07.14.2025
Police officers

‘No immigrant truly feels free right now’: Meet those impacted by immigration policy

07.18.25
All Stories