The Boston Globe - 11.03.2020

PresidentTrumpattackedaleading
HouseDemocratoverupcomingclassi-
fiedintelligencebriefingsby members
of his own administration on the issue
of election interference.A2.

SharesonWallStreetsurged,rebound-
ingfromtheirsharpestdropinmore
thanadecadeamid efforts in Washing-
ton to protect the economy.B6.

RussianPresidentVladimirPutinen-
dorsedaproposalthatwouldallow
himtoseekanadditionaltwosix-year
termswhen his tenure is up.A4.

TheshoppingexperienceatWhole
Foodsischangingformanypeople,
and not for the better. Here are a few
adjustments you can make.G1.

VOL. 297, NO. 71

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Wednesday:A bit cooler, but not much.
High 51-56. Low 36-41.
Thursday:Cloudy, breezy.
High 48-53. Low 39-44.
High tide: 12:57 a.m., 1:20 p.m.
Sunrise: 7:02 Sunset: 6:
Weather and Comics, G8-9.
Obituaries, C11.

Flowerpower

abcde

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

By Laura Krantz
and Jazmine Ulloa
GLOBE STAFF
Former vice president Joe Biden
scored at least three more primary vic-
tories Tuesday, including handily de-
feating Bernie Sanders in Michigan in
a severe blow to the Vermont senator’s
campaign that underscored how dras-
tically the Democratic presidential
contest has shifted in less than two
weeks.
Seizing firm control of the race,
Biden began turning toward the gener-
al election by reaching out to Sanders’
voters in his victory speech in an at-
tempt to unify Democrats.
“I want to thank Bernie Sanders
and his supporters for their tireless en-
ergy and their passion,” Biden said in
Philadelphia. “We share a common
goal and together we’ll defeat Donald
Trump. We’ll defeat him together.
We’re going to bring this nation to-
gether.”
Sanders surprisingly decided not to
speak publicly Tuesday night, a sign of
the magnitude of his losses.
Four years ago, Sanders upset Hil-
lary Clinton in Michigan in a win that
propelled his insurgent bid to a new
level of legitimacy. But this year, with
Democrats desperate to oust President
Trump, voters in the key Midwestern
battleground state flocked to Biden as
DEMOCRATS, Page A

By Felice J. Freyer, Matt Stout,

and Martin Finucane

GLOBE STAFF

Governor Charlie Baker declared

a state of emergency for Massachu-

setts on Tuesday, as the number of

Covid-19 cases in the state more

than doubled to 92 and the first cas-

es with no known source broke out

in Berkshire County.

Seeking to slow the spread of the

virus, Baker announced travel re-

strictions on all 42,000 employees of

the state’s executive branch, banning

out-of-state work-related travel and

in-person conferences and seminars.

He urged other large employers to do

the same.

“I would have to say that the risk

has increased,” Baker said at a State

House news conference. “Respond-

ing to this evolving health threat re-

quires everyone to be vigilant and ev-

eryone to be part of this effort.”

The Berkshire cases mark a turn-

ing point in the outbreak in Massa-

chusetts, because they indicate the

virus may be spreading freely in the

community. Previously, all the infect-

ed people in the state had either trav-

eled abroad or had contact with an

infected person, the majority at a

conference of Biogen employees.

“Person-to-person spread of the

virus is beginning to occur among in-

dividuals without identifiable risk

factors,” said Public Health Commis-

sioner Monica Bharel, saying the fo-

cus now shifts from containing the

virus’s spread to mitigating it. A

health department expert has been

dispatched to help with the Berk-

shire County outbreak, she said.

There are seven Covid-19 cases in

the county but it was unclear Tues-

day how many were of unknown ori-

gin.

With this leap to so-called com-

munity transmission, the goal be-

MASSACHUSETTS, Page A

HEATHER HOPP-BRUCE/GLOBE STAFF

WED.,

FEB. 26

THURS.,

FEB. 27

FRI.,

FEB. 28

SAT.,

FEB. 29

SUN.,

MARCH 1

MON.,

MARCH 2

TUES.,

MARCH 3

WED.,

MARCH 4

THURS.,

MARCH 5

FRI.,

MARCH 6

SAT.,

MARCH 7

SUN.,

MARCH 8

MON.,

MARCH 9

TUES.,

MARCH 10

TOTAL

CASES:

2

TOTAL

CASES

2

TOTAL

CASES

2

TOTAL

CASES

3

TOTAL

CASES

8

TOTAL

CASES

13

TOTAL

CASES

28

TOTAL

CASES

41

TOTAL

CASES

92

Biogenconference

About 175 top Biogen

managers met at Boston

Marriott Long Wharf

hotel. It is unknown

which attendee carried

the virus.

MoreBiogencases

Fifteen new cases

diagnosed in meeting

attendees:

Five in Boston

Five in Middlesex

County

Four in Norfolk

County

1 of unknown

residence

Fivenewcases

Three in Middlesex

County with ties to Biogen.

One in Middlesex.

County who had traveled

recently to Northern Italy.

One in Berkshire County.

FirstBiogendiagnoses,

schoolsclosed

Five new cases announced in

Mass., all from the Biogen

conference, including:

Three in Boston

Two in Norfolk County,

including one from Wellesley.

Two public schools in Wellesley

sent students home after

learning a parent had been

presumptively diagnosed.

Spreadcontinues

Thirteen new presumptive cases,

nine tied to the Biogen meeting.

Arlington school closed for one

day after a parent had been

diagnosed and a student showed

symptoms, later diagnosed.

Wellesley schools reopened.

Thirdcase

Middlesex

County woman,

recently

returned from

Northern Italy.

Symptomsappear

Biogen conference

attendees began reporting

flu-like symptoms.

SecondcaseinMass.

Norfolk County resident,

recently returned from Italy.

Feb. 1:A student recently

returned from Wuhan, China,

was the first confirmed case.

Testing

beganat

statepublic

health

laboratory

Stateofemergency

declared

Of the 92 cases, 70

are connected to the

Biogen outbreak.

That total includes

the 51 new cases

announced Tuesday.

AFFECTEDCOUNTIES

Includes

Arlington and

Newton

Includes

Wellesley and

Norwood

Includes

Wellesley and

Norwood

Norfolk

County

Middlesex

County

Berkshire

County

Suffolk

County

Includes Boston

In Massachusetts, many

cases are connected to

a Biogen conference in

Boston in late February.

Tw o w e e ks

of the

coronavirus

This story was reported by Andy

Rosen, Hanna Krueger, Kay Lazar,

Jonathan Saltzman, Liz Kowalczyk,

and Mark Arsenault of the Globe

staff. It was written by Arsenault.

It opened with breakfast, at 7

a.m., in the Harbor View Ballroom of

the Boston Marriott Long Wharf ho-

tel, where a wide bank of windows

offers a sublime view across the in-

ner harbor, steel gray on a cloudy

morning, to Logan Airport in the dis-

tance.

About 175 executives were ex-

pected at the Biogen leadership con-

ference on Feb. 26. Employees from

Biogen locations around the United

States and the world reunited with

colleagues they don’t often get to see.

They greeted each other enthusi-

astically, with handshakes and hugs,

and then caught up over breakfast,

picking from plates of pastries and

the self-serve hot food bar. They

were there for two days of discus-

sions and presentations about the fu-

ture of the Cambridge-based, multi-

national biotech firm, which devel-

ops therapies for neurological

diseases. It was the kind of under-

the-radar gathering that happens in

this region just about every week.

Within days, though, the Biogen

conferencewouldbeinfamous,iden-

tified as an epicenter of the Massa-

chusetts outbreak of Covid-19, with

70 of 92 coronavirus infections in

the state linked to the conference as

of Tuesday night, including employ-

ees and those who came into contact

with them. That doesn’t include a

cascade of individual cases in Ten-

nessee, North Carolina, Indiana,

New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and

Norway, and suspected cases in Ger-

many, Austria, and Argentina.

BIOGEN, Page A

By Felice J. Freyer and Katie Johnston

GLOBE STAFF

The advice is clear, and it’s repeated often:

Stay home if you’re sick.

But what if doing so could cost you your job?

Or your rent money?

Workers groups around the country are call-

ing for changes in sick leave policies that penal-

ize workers who take time off to recover from an

illness. Nationally, only half of the lowest 25 per-

cent of workers get paid sick leave, according to

the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The best thing you can do if you feel sick is

stay home. If your kid feels sick, stay home,” said

Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, executive director of the

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety

and Health. “But that’s not an option for every-

body.”

Two major labor unions, the American Feder-

ation of Teachers and Unite Here, recently called

for a national policy on paid sick time.

While many employers are making arrange-

ments for people to work remotely, only 29 per-

cent of workers can do their jobs from home, ac-

cording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among Black workers, fewer than 20 percent

can work remotely, and for Latino workers, it’s

just over 16 percent.

SICK TIME, Page A

By Deirdre Fernandes

GLOBE STAFF

Harvard students hauled

brown cardboard boxes across

campus and scrambled to book

last-minute flights out of Bos-

ton Tuesday after the Ivy

League school told its students

that they should stay away after

spring break next week and

take their classes online for the

rest of the semester.

At MIT, students and faculty

practiced using teleconference

technology as administrators

on Tuesday called off in-person

classes and told all their under-

graduates to leave campus by

noon on March 17. When MIT’s

spring break ends on March 30,

classes will be held remotely.

Across New England and

the United States, colleges and

universities stepped up their ef-

forts to contain the spread of

the coronavirus, with more

than a dozen transitioning to

virtual classes and essentially

shutting down their campuses

to student activities.

Several other Boston-area

colleges announced Tuesday

that classes will be moving on-

line and students must move

out of campus housing.

Tufts University in Medford

will remain open, but all classes

will be conducted virtually

starting March 25, president

Anthony Monaco said in a

statement.

COLLEGES, Page A

49% reportingIdaho

Biden 47%

Sanders 41%

81% reportingMich.

Biden 53%

Sanders 38%

97% reportingMiss.

Biden 81%

Sanders 15%

100% reportingMo.

Biden 60%

Sanders 35%

17% reportingN.D.

Biden 32%

Sanders 44%

67% reportingWash.

Biden 33%

Sanders 33%

Baker declares a state of emergency

amid fears virus may be spreading freely

Berkshirecases

withnoknown

sourceraisealarm

JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF

“I would have to say that the risk

has increased,” Governor

Charlie Baker announced.

Bidenwins

inMichigan,

akeysetback

forSanders

Ex-vicepresident

alsotakesMiss.,Mo.

InsidetheBiogenoutbreak

Aroutineconferencewasfollowedby

ominoussigns,andafrighteningrealization

slowlydawned:Theviruswasontheloose

DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

A total of 70 coronavirus infections in the state have been traced to

the Biogen leadership conference at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf.

Harvard,MITputclassesonline

andtelltheirstudentstostayaway

JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF)

Harvard students found themselves packing up their

possessions on Tuesday, months earlier than expected.

‘It’sverychaotic,butwe’remakingitthrough.’

JACK MARKERT,a Harvard freshman

Lackingsicktime,

somecan’tafford

tostayhome

Fears at nursing homes

Long-term-care facilities in Massa-

chusetts are already facing a severe

shortage of workers.B1.

Drastic action in N.Y.

The National Guard was sent in

to New Rochelle to help fight what

is believed to be the biggest cluster

of cases in the country.A8.

Prudence vs. paranoia

With the stakes high, people are

drawing their own lines.B1.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

“It’s a comeback for the soul of this
nation,’’ Joe Biden said Tuesday.