Clusters

We keep seeing the word "cluster" used to describe multiple cases of COVID 19 positives discovered in one spot.  So far the state has identified six so-called clusters of cases in nursing homes where many individuals live together in more less confined close quarters.  This might be the last we learn about them.

A cluster is identified as two or more cases that appear to be connected.

But, the state said, it will no longer identify the facilities: "With the involvement of hospitals and multiple providers and the growth in cases of nursing home residents, the Department of Health will no longer be reporting where positive cases have been identified," the Department of Health said in a statement.

But the conditions that make them likely aren't too difficult to predict.  Which is why it's a good idea to take preventative measures while we can. 

In New Orleans, the public defenders’ motion was sweeping in its breadth. The agency called for the release of anyone in the jail whose age or poor health puts them at greater risk, all inmates held on misdemeanor charges, almost all inmates held on nonviolent charges, all inmates who are being detained on suspected parole violations and anyone within 30 days of finishing their sentence.

The request to release aged and sickly inmates would apply even to defendants awaiting trial on violent felony crimes.

Cannizzaro's statement in this article is set in sympathetic language but he still doesn't sound agreeable to helping.  Last week he sounded like he would be fine just locking up all the COVID cases in town like some sort of leper colony.  So maybe this is an improvement.