Massachusetts – COOPER GENERAL NEWS

Boston EMS medics work to resuscitate a patient on the way to the ambulance amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts, April 27, 2020.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

About three-fourths of people infected in a Massachusetts Covid-19 outbreak were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to new data published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new data, published in the U.S. agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that fully vaccinated people who get infected carry as much of the virus in their nose as unvaccinated people, and could spread it to other individuals.

“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others, including their unvaccinated or immunocompromised loved ones.”

On Tuesday, the CDC reversed course on its prior guidance and recommended fully vaccinated Americans who live in areas with high Covid infection rates resume wearing face masks indoors. The guidelines cover about two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to a CNBC analysis.

While the delta variant continues to hit unvaccinated people the hardest, some vaccinated people could be carrying higher levels of the virus than previously understood and are potentially transmitting it to others, Walensky told reporters on a call Tuesday. She added the variant behaves “uniquely differently from past strains of the virus.”

A CDC document that was reviewed by CNBC warned that the delta variant sweeping across the country is as contagious as chickenpox, has a longer transmission window than the original Covid strain and may make older people sicker, even if they’ve been fully vaccinated.

Delta, now in at least 132 countries and already the dominant form of the disease in the United States, is more transmissible than the common cold, the 1918 Spanish flu, smallpox, Ebola, MERS and SARS, according to the document. Only measles appears to spread faster than the variant.

The data published Friday was based on 469 cases of Covid associated with multiple summer events and large public gatherings held in July in Barnstable County, Mass., according to the CDC. The events were held in an unnamed town in Barnstable, which encompasses Cape Cod and is just outside Martha’s Vineyard. Approximately three quarters, or 74%, of the cases occurred in fully vaccinated people who had completed a two-dose course of the mRNA vaccines or received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s.

Overall, 274 vaccinated patients with a breakthrough infection were symptomatic, according to the CDC. The most common side effects were cough, headache, sore throat, muscle pain and fever. Among five Covid patients who were hospitalized, four were fully vaccinated, according to the agency. No deaths were reported.

Testing identified the delta variant in 90% of specimens from 133 patients.

The CDC the data has limitations. The agency noted that as population-level vaccination coverage increases, vaccinated persons are likely to represent a larger proportion of Covid cases. Additionally, asymptomatic breakthrough infections might be underrepresented because of detection bias, the agency said.

The CDC also said the report is “insufficient” to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the authorized vaccines against Covid, including the delta variant, during this outbreak.

Eleven men were arrested Saturday after a long roadside altercation between Massachusetts police officers and a group of heavily armed men in tactical gear who claimed to be part of a group called Rise of the Moors.

Dozens of police officers from Massachusetts and New Hampshire responded to the standoff that closed part of a freeway for several hours and prompted authorities to order people in the surrounding communities to take protection on the spot.

The men who appeared to be broadcasting the stalemate on YouTube eventually surrendered to police without any shots being fired, authorities said. There were no injuries, although three of the men in the group were hospitalized with pre-existing conditions unrelated to the stalemate.

“I attribute patience, professionalism, and partnership to the successful resolution of this matter,” said Col. Christopher Mason of the Massachusetts State Police. “At the end of the day, we have the desired result, which is a safe solution.”

The stalemate began around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to the State Police, when a state trooper stopped to look for two vehicles that had stopped in the breakdown lane of Interstate 95 in Wakefield, about 15 miles north of Boston. The men filled their gas tanks with their own fuel, and they appeared to be carrying military tactical equipment and rifles and other weapons. Colonel Mason said the men said they were going to Maine from Rhode Island for “training”.

When the men did not produce the required IDs and gun licenses, the soldier asked for reinforcements, Colonel Mason said.

“You can imagine that eleven armed people standing on a freeway at 2am with long guns are sure to raise concerns and are inconsistent with the firearms laws we have here in Massachusetts,” said Colonel Mason. “I understand that you have a different perspective. I appreciate this perspective. I do not agree with this perspective. “

First, two armed men were arrested, Colonel Mason said, and the negotiators spent hours talking to other members of the group, some of whom were in the woods by the highway and others in their vehicles.

An on-site protection order has been placed for residents of Wakefield and Reading and part of Interstate 95 has been closed to traffic.

By 10.15 a.m., the police had arrested the nine remaining members of the group. All surrendered without incident, Colonel Mason said, and “a number” of firearms were confiscated.

The police lifted the detention order and the motorway was released after the men were arrested.

Middlesex County’s district attorney Marian Ryan said she believed the men would face “firearms and other charges” Tuesday. State police said several of the men refused to provide any information about their identity, which delayed the booking process.

The Massachusetts state website states, “The laws governing the transportation of firearms can be confusing. Basically: If you keep the weapon unloaded and locked in a suitcase in the trunk or rear storage compartment of a truck or SUV, you must comply with the applicable laws. “

Colonel Mason said the men involved in the standoff said they were part of a group called Rise of the Moors. On the group’s website, Rise of the Moors says it seeks “equal justice under our own right and not under the United States government because we are not citizens of the United States.”

“Since we are not US citizens, we owe the United States government no tax obligations,” it says on the website.

They describe themselves as “Moorish Americans devoted to educating new Moors and influencing our elders,” according to the website.

Colonel Mason said the group’s “professed leader wanted to know that their ideology is not anti-government”.

“Our research will give us more insight into their motivations and ideology,” he said.

“We are not anti-government,” said one man early Saturday morning in a livestream on the group’s YouTube channel.

The man, who was wearing military clothing, said the group stopped to refuel with petrol cans to avoid “unnecessary stops” while carrying firearms. The man also said the group was traveling to their “private country”.

“We have no intention of being hostile, we have no intention of being aggressive,” he later added. “We are not against the government, we are not against the police, we are not sovereign citizens and we are not extremists with a black identity.”

“We are foreigners,” called another member of the group from the background.

Recognition…YouTube channel “Uprising of the Moors”

Rise of the Moors appears to be based in Pawtucket, RI, according to the group’s website. The group did not immediately respond to an email requesting a comment.

Pawtucket police “know” the group and have had “various interactions” with them, said Emily Rizzo, a Pawtucket Mayor spokeswoman, who said they could not immediately provide further details.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Moorish sovereign civil movement is an extremist ideology that emerged in the early 1990s. It is an offshoot of the anti-government movement for sovereign citizens, which believes that individual citizens have sovereignty over the authority of federal and state governments and are independent of them. According to the centre’s website, the groups are typically small and consist of a few dozen followers.

It is unclear what connection Rise of the Moors could have with this movement.

According to a 2016 report by the Anti-Defamation League, the Moorish sovereign citizen movement began when people fused the beliefs of sovereign citizens with some of the beliefs of the Moorish Temple of Science, a 1913 religious sect.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the movement grew and absorbed other black sovereign groups, according to the ADL. had started independently

The report states that Moorish sovereign citizens committed the same criminal activities as “traditional” sovereign civic groups, including violent crimes, fraud, defrauding and intimidating public officials.