2
SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
METRO
By Danny McDonald
and Travis Andersen
GLOBE STAFF
Officials confirmed two more hu-
man cases of EEE Friday, including a
5-year-old Sudbury girl and a North-
borough woman in her 60s — and one
state scientist said she expects more
cases in coming weeks.
According to Sudbury town offi-
cials, the child is in critical condition
at an area hospital. All outdoor eve-
ning town and school activities in
Sudbury were cancelled Friday. Out-
door events for Lincoln-Sudbury Re-
gional High School were also can-
celled.
Northborough’s health agent con-
firmed in a Friday statement that the
other new case of EEE was a town res-
ident.
The new cases announced Friday
brought the state’s tally to seven and
caused risk levels to be raised in a
number of Massachusetts communi-
ties. In Framingham, Marlborough,
Northborough,andSudbury,therisk
levels were raised to critical, while the
levels in Berlin, Boylston, Hudson,
Maynard, Stow, and Wayland have
been raised to high.
Critical risk prompts the state to
encourage outdoor gatherings like or-
ganized sports events be cancelled or
rescheduled to avoid the peak mos-
quito hours from dusk until dawn.
High risk means “conditions likely to
lead to infection of a person with EEE
occurring in your area.”
EEE is a rare but potentially fatal
disease that can cause brain inflam-
mation and is transmitted to humans
bitten by infected mosquitoes, accord-
ing to federal authorities. Those who
recover from it often live with severe
and devastating neurological compli-
cations. There is no treatment.
Earlier this year, a Fairhaven wom-
an with EEE died.
Although local mosquito popula-tions are beginning to decrease be-
cause of the cooler temperatures, EEE
risk in the state will continue until not
just the first frost, but the first “hard
frost,” said Dr. Catherine Brown, an
epidemiologist for the state.
Speaking at a Friday afternoon
press conference in downtown Bos-
ton, Brown said more human cases of
EEE in Massachusetts are likely this
year, including possible deaths, but
she stopped short of calling the cur-
rent rash of illnesses a public health
crisis.
“It is certainly something that we
are paying a lot of attention to,” she
said.
She said historically most people
who get the disease in Massachusetts
become sick before Sept. 15, when
temperatures typically begin falling.
The state, said Brown, is approach-
ing the “end of the traditional peak
transmission period.”
Still, the state’s public health com-missioner, Dr. Monica Bharel, said in
a statement confirming the two most
recent cases that it is “not unusual to
see human EEE cases confirmed in
September.”
“This is why we continue to urge
the public to take seriously the threat
that mosquitoes can pose and to take
steps to avoid being bitten,” she said
in the statement.
EEE cycles are “partially triggered
when a new variant of the virus” is in-
troduced to the state by migratory
birds from the southeastern part of
thecountry,shesaid.
“We think that is probably what
happened this year,” she said.
About one-third of infected indi-
viduals who develop the disease die,
according to federal officials.
And, Brown said, survivors can
have “very high levels of permanent
neurological impairment.”
Symptoms can include high fever
and headaches, but because the virusinvades the central nervous system,
patients can also have “rapid progres-
sion in changes of level of conscious-
ness and seizures,” said Brown.
On Thursday, officials announced
that the state’s fifth human case of
EEE this year had been confirmed in a
man in his 70s from southwestern
Middlesex County.
That case prompted officials to
raise risk levels for EEE in Ashland,
Hopedale, and Milford to critical and
the risk levels in Bellingham, Black-
stone, and Millville to high.
All told, 36 communities are now
at critical risk, 42 at high risk, and 115
at moderate risk for the EEE virus in
Massachusetts, according to state offi-
cials.
Also, nine cases of EEE have been
confirmed this year in animals: eight
horses and one goat.
The MSPCA is expanding its emer-
gency EEE vaccination services for
EEE,PageTwo more cases of EEE confirmed in humans
LANE TURNER/GLOBE STAF
The darkened sides of buildings on Tamworth Street provided a frame for the activities of people traveling along Boylston
STREETSCAPE Street in downtown Boston.By James Pindell
GLOBE STAFF
The New Hampshire Democratic
Party’s convention on Saturday will
feature the largest gathering of presi-
dential candidates appearing on the
samestageinstatehistory.
Nineteen candidates — mayors,
representatives, senators, business-
men, a governor, and a spiritual guru
— are scheduled to speak inside a
12,000-person arena. While there,
they might ask what exactly they need
to do to win the state’s first-in-the-na-
tion primary in February.
Traditional answers — showing up
early and often, wooing local activists,
and buying television advertising —
still apply. But this year, there is a
growing belief that the path to win-
ning New Hampshire might actually
involve doing well somewhere else: Io-
wa, which is expected to hold its cau-
cus eight days before the New Hamp-
shire primary.
This is especially true for the front-
runners: former vice president Joe
Biden and Senators Elizabeth Warren
of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders
of Vermont.
And it’s a dynamic quite different
from the past, when Iowa and New
Hampshire voters have generally gone
in different directions.
“I think it is going to be very hard
for all three of these candidates to
come into New Hampshire with a full
head of steam,” said New Hampshire
Democratic Party chairman Ray Buck-
ley. “At least one of them is not going
to fare well in Iowa, and that is going
to directly impact their chances in
New Hampshire.”
Biden never survived past the Iowa
caucuses in his previous two runs for
president. And for a campaign that is
based on electability, losing Iowa
could puncture his frontrunner status
in a way that would make a New
Hampshire comeback unlikely. Andwhile many campaign analysts and
donors believe New Hampshire will
make or break Warren and Sanders,
the way one could get a leg up is to
best the other in the Iowa.
The campaigning so far this year
has already reflected this reality. Thecampaigns are spending more time in
Iowa than in New Hampshire. They
have more staff there, and seven can-
didates are running television ads in
Iowa, compared to one, businessman
Tom Steyer, in New Hampshire.
To be sure, since 1972 when Iowawas placed ahead of New Hampshire
on the presidential primary calendar,
candidates who have fared well in Io-
wa have used momentum to buoy
their campaigns back in New Eng-
land.
But more often than not New
Hampshire picked someone else for
president. After George H.W. Bush
won the 1980 Iowa caucuses, he de-
clared he had “the big mo” — but then
Ronald Reagan won the New Hamp-
shire primary and eventually the Re-
publican nomination and the presi-
dency.
The two early states have split their
votes ever since, with just two excep-
tions: Democrats Al Gore in 2000 and
John Kerry in 2004, who swept both
states. No Republican has won both
Iowa and New Hampshire in a com-
petitive primary season.
But this time around, with such a
large field, and with Democratic vot-
ers emphasizing electability, the no-
tion of a candidate winning both
states and quickly becoming the Dem-
ocratic nominee is more likely than in
past cycles.
This is especially concerning to
those who support Biden, whose has
long found his best early state is South
Carolina, the fourth state to vote in
the process.
Worried that Biden might not even
make it to South Carolina if another
candidate runs through the early
states, the International Association
of Firefighters, the first union to back
Biden, will spend at least three weeks
camped out in Iowa ahead of the vote
there.
IOWA,PageThe road to N.H. might run through Iowa
By James Pindell
GLOBE STAFF
If the New Hampshire Democratic
primary were held today, who would
win?
When the Globe set to answer that
question in May, former vice presi-
dent Joe Biden had recently entered
the race and sat as the Granite State
frontrunner. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of
South Bend, Ind., was rising, and
New England Senators Bernie Sand-
ers and Elizabeth Warren began to
loosely form a top-tier with Biden.
There have been two major chang-
es over the last four months.
First, the top tier of Biden, Sand-
ers, Warren has solidified — so much
so it’s hard to see how any other can-
didate can even compete in New
Hampshire.
Second, the next tier of candidates
has been focused on national metrics,
such as the number of contributors to
their campaigns. That’s largely a
function of the Democratic National
Committee’s requirements to make
debates. And it has meant less time
campaigning in New Hampshire,compared to earlier presidential cy-
cles.
The rankings here are based on
polls of New Hampshire voters, inter-
views with more than a dozen, activ-
ists, operatives, and insiders, and an
analysis of the on-the-ground infra-
structure each campaign has built.
While the rankings are based on
what would happen today, the prima-
ry is set to take place in February, so
there’s plenty of time for things to
change.
One candidate that is unlikely to
shift much is former representative
Beto O’Rourke from Texas, who has
been dropped from this list as a con-
tender. Last month O’Rourke de-
clared he will significantly scale back
his campaigning in early states like
New Hampshire, a place where he
was only polling at about one percent
anyway.
Going forward, there are three
other main storylines to look for:
— When will Biden slip from first
place?
— Can Warren’s momentum over-
take Sanders?— What will happen when Butt-
igieg and entrepreneur Andrew Yang
have beefed up their local campaign
teams?
Labor Day serves as a demarca-
tion. Now, more voters are paying at-
tention and the campaigns may begin
to go after each other. With that in
mind here are where things stand:Formervice
president
JoeBiden
Yes, Biden re-
mains the New
Hampshire front-
runner, though no
one expects that to
last. He doesn’t have
the buzz in the state,
nor does he have the largest on-the-
ground staff, nor the most endorse-
ments.
Oh, and he hasn’t spent much
time campaigning in the Granite
State either.
His rivals say his place on top is
only because of name recognition,
RANKINGS,PageRanking the Democrats in N.H.
RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws