GOV. CHARLIE BAKER hired an independent attorney to investigate what went wrong at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home leading to a COVID-19 outbreak and related deaths. Baker on Wednesday announced that his office […]
COVID-19
Posted inHealth Care
To mask or not to mask
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, who is leading efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Massachusetts, doesn’t see a need to wear a mask as he holds press conferences at the […]
Posted inUncategorized
State hits some snags in working from home
A LONG-TIME HEALTH CARE administrator working at North Shore Community College is over 60, putting her in a vulnerable category for COVID-19. But as of last week, she was still […]
Posted inHealth Care
How vets died of COVID-19 and no one knew
IT TOOK EIGHT VETERANS’ DEATHS and five days before the head of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home informed state and local public health authorities about the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak […]
Posted inEducation, Health Care, State House News Service
Virus notes: Franklin emerges as hotspot
NEW NUMBERS RELEASED on Tuesday show just how quickly the coronavirus situation can change, as confirmed cases continued a steady rise, deaths jumped dramatically, and two of the state’s smallest […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker extends state shutdown until May 4
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Tuesday urged Massachusetts residents to continue all existing social distancing measures and ordered all non-essential businesses to keep their offices and factories closed until May 4. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Berkshire County a COVID-19 hotspot
DEATHS FROM COVID-19 are occurring in Berkshire County at a much higher rate than other counties in Massachusetts and most communities around the country. Berkshire County in the western part […]
Posted inTransportation
T ridership keeps falling as staff infections rise
MBTA GENERAL MANAGER Steve Poftak disclosed on Monday that 18 employees, including 10 bus drivers, have tested positive for COVID-19. The other employees who tested positive include one subway and […]
Posted inHealth Care
The surge is coming
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Monday that the long expected surge in COVID-19 cases is expected to arrive in Massachusetts sometime between April 7 and April 17, and he used […]
Posted inHealth Care
Virus notes: Mass. among top states on testing
MASSACHUSETTS IS MOVING into the very top tier of states doing testing for COVID-19. As of Sunday evening, the state had conducted 39,066 tests, placing it fifth among the states […]
Posted inUncategorized
Holyoke’s Alex Morse adapts to the curveballs
First in a series about mayors across Massachusetts and how they’re contending with the COVID-19 pandemic. DON’T ASK HOLYOKE MAYOR Alex Morse about his typical day right now – there […]
Posted inOpinion
Putting our ‘war’ in perspective
SELF-CONFINED TO QUARTERS like so much of the nation, I’m sorting through some memorabilia, most notably – for the second time this year — my mother’s war time journal – […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker public health commissioner tests positive
DR. MONICA BHAREL, the commissioner of the state Department of Public Health and one of Gov. Charlie Baker’s top lieutenants in the battle against COVID-19, has tested positive for the […]
Posted inOpinion
Healey UI attacks on Baker misplaced
As noted by Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi, Attorney General Maura Healey disapproves of the way the Baker administration is handling the spike in demand for unemployment insurance that’s coming […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Virus notes: How long will this go on?
IT’S FRIDAY, which is normally a time to break away from the work-week routine. But this weekend not much is going to change. Saturday and Sunday will look pretty much […]
Posted inHealth Care
All travelers to Mass. urged to self-quarantine
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday asked all travelers arriving in Massachusetts from out of state to voluntarily self-quarantine for 14 days. The governor said information on the self-quarantine effort would […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Virus notes: Frustrated Baker almost says God-damned
IN A SIGN of his growing frustration with the challenges associated with acquiring personal protective equipment for frontline medical workers, Gov. Charlie Baker almost said “God damned” at a televised […]
Posted inOpinion
COVID-19 cost Mass. households $673m last week
THE CORONAVIRUS SHUTDOWN cost Massachusetts households at least $673 million in earnings last week alone, according to an extrapolation of data gathered from a survey conducted by the MassINC Polling […]
Posted inHealth Care
COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate by age
NO ONE IS IMMUNE to COVID-19, but teens and pre-teens come pretty close. The latest data from the state Department of Public Health indicate just over 70 percent of those […]
Posted inHealth Care
Dr. Lee: Preparing for the surge
This is the third conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an […]
Posted inTransportation
Virus notes: MBTA fare revenue off $35m in March
MBTA OFFICIALS SAID on Wednesday that they expect fare revenue to fall as much as $35 million short of budget targets in March, but the transit authority is also being […]
Posted inEducation
Baker closes Mass. schools through May 4
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday ordered all schools and non-emergency childcares closed through May 4, extending the current three-week suspension by an additional month in order to slow the spread […]
Posted inEconomy
Many are waiting for the cash to start flowing
BEFORE THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic started, 34-year-old Emmanuel Mondesir of Dorchester was working two part-time jobs – one making deliveries for a pizzeria and the other as an Uber Eats driver, […]
Posted inOpinion
Thanks Boston: Asking for help yields results
IT TURNS OUT that asking for a little help can yield amazing results. As the shortage of protective equipment started to cast a daunting and demoralizing COVID-19 shadow on our […]
