Mayor Wu this morning announced "one more step" in an aggressive battle against Covid-19: Starting Jan. 15, everybody over 12 entering private venues in Boston will have to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination. Read more.
The Curley School in Jamaica Plain is scheduled to re-open for classes tomorrow for the first time in ten days, after school and Boston public-health officials ordered it shut to try to get a handle on a Covid-19 outbreak.
Cassellius listens as Curley principal Katie Grassa addresses parents.
BPS and Boston public-health officials said tonight Covid-19 exploded so fast at the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain over the last three weeks that they couldn't keep up - and decided this afternoon the best course would be to shut the school for ten days. Read more.
Acting Mayor Kim Janey today announced an executive order that aims to move people now creating tent cities at Mass and Cass and elsewhere in Boston into treatment and housing.
"To be clear, tents are not appropriate for housing," because they lack basic services and lead to infectious diseases, violence and human trafficking, Janey said at City Hall. Read more.
A judge on Thursday rejected a request by the state troopers union to block a state order that state employees be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by Oct. 17 or risk discipline or firing. Read more.
An alpaca, although one in Peru, not Middlesex County.
The state Department of Public Health yesterday announced the state's first animal case of West Nile Virus: In an alpaca, somewhere in sprawling Middlesex County, a week after four human cases had been confirmed in the state. Read more.
With delta breakthrough cases on the rise, the state today released updated Covid-19 guidance that calls for anybody who might be at high risk for complication - or who lives or works with somebody who is - to start wearing masks in stores and other indoor places again. Read more.
Covid-19 levels in the sewage from the southern half of the MWRA system. Source.
Today's the day the State of Emergency is officially over, although you might still have to wear a mask in certain places, like hospitals. So go out and celebrate. But maybe first pause for a moment in memory of the more than 17,000 Massachusetts residents who died.
The medical mecca of the universe has fallen behind other states in getting people vaccinated. Why, New Mexico has an online system that lets eligible people register for an appointment. Here? Local health officials are still sending data on paper.
Separately, the Globe notes the paucity of vaccination sites in heavily hit minority communities in Suffolk County.
NPR reports doctors are looking at why and have several possible explanations: Less exposure to other infectious diseases - due to isolation and better hygiene - better adherence to medical advice on inhalers and less air pollution.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Emergency Department Utilization for Asthma - the report by Children's Hospital.
Thrice-weekly samples taken at the MWRA's Deer Island sewage-treatment plant are showing a spike in Covid-19 RNA, which follows increases in Covid-19 rates in Massachusetts and Boston and could signal further increases as the people excreting the RNA spread their virus to people they come into contact with. Read more.
Arlington officials say a raccoon they believe bit and scratched a young child on Fountain Road Wednesday afternoon has tested positive for rabies. Read more.
The state Department of Public Health has added Pennsylvania, Delaware, Colorado and West Virginia to the list of states from which people - including returning Bay Staters - no longer have to quarantine for 14 days or show proof of a recent negative Covid-19 test when they arrive here, because they all now have positive Covid-19 test rates under 5% and low total daily numbers.
They join all of New England - except for Rhode Island - New York and New Jersey.
An analysis of the genetic makeup of Covid-19 samples from the early days of the pandemic in Massachusetts suggests a two-day conference at the Marriott Long Wharf provided the spark that set off a Covid-19 conflagration in a state not yet fully prepared to deal with it. Read more.
Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency-room physician at Brigham and Women's with a penchant for health policy, reported yesterday that state stats show that for the third week in a row, Boston has not had any of the "excess" deaths that started climbing as Covid-19 erupted here earlier this year. Read more.
Mayor Walsh today declared racism a public-health crisis in Boston and announced he is shifting $3 million from the Boston Police overtime fund to public-health efforts - and that he will also the City Council to approve another $9 million shift from police overtime to efforts aimed at ending racial disparities in Boston. Read more.
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