Braintree Has 'More Than Dozens' Of People In Travel Quarantine

BRAINTREE, MA — A significant number of Braintree residents are in quarantine due to out of state travel, according to the town's health department.

Public health nurse Jean McGinty said Braintree has "way more than dozens" of people quarantining because of travel for vacation and business. But despite this, none of the town's 957 confirmed coronavirus cases has been linked to out of state travel, McGinty said.

McGinty said she expected high quarantine numbers because Braintree is a transient community with a lot of global diversity. Not only do people travel to Braintree because of its proximity to Boston, there are often travelers that stay in their hotels, eat in their restaurants or visit family.

"At this time last year, we would normally have a quarter million people in town during the day," McGinty said.

But McGinty said the biggest challenge for the town's contract tracing program has been trying to help families, especially if they are coming from outside the United States. She said this has been a big issue for people trying to come home, whether that be to or from Braintree.

"Each and every country asked for different criteria to get into the country," McGinty said. "If you don't have a direct flight, you have a chance of having that 72-hour testing be canceled."

McGinty said she's doing everything she can to help on the local level. One way she said the department has tried to help has been having local health officials sign off on testing labs.

But it still hasn't been a smooth process because the United States doesn't have its coronavirus numbers under control, and because of that, most countries aren't allowing travelers from the U.S., McGinty said.

"I care about all our people whether they live here or not," McGinty said. "We are in difficult times on the local level, but we are doing everything we can to help."