Jean Perry, Neighb News Correspondent
With Massachusetts now in the “severe outbreak” category for COVID-19 infection at the federal level, Governor Charlie Baker on 1/12 announced that Gillette Stadium in Foxboro would open on Thursday, 1/14 as the state’s first mass vaccination site to provide first doses of the vaccine to those administering the vaccination to the state’s first responders. The site will start issuing about 300 doses daily and eventually increase to about 5,000 doses a day.
First responders started receiving their first dose of the vaccine this Monday as part of Phase 1, and about 60 sites statewide are equipped to accommodate 45,000 people seeking their first vaccine dose.
“There is literally light at the end of the tunnel, and it feels good to be at this phase,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito on Tuesday.
Massachusetts confirmed 4,239 new positive cases on 1/11 for a total of 417,568 since the start of the pandemic. There are 2,211 patients hospitalized with COVID-19; 415 in Intensive Care, and 285 on ventilators.
Fifty-four more died from COVID-19 on 1/11, totaling 12,929 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Massachusetts.
The two-week data from January 7 shows that Acushnet confirmed another 126 cases for a total of 664, while Fairhaven saw another 201 positive cases totaling 1,129.
Gov. Baker urged residents to continue wearing masks and warned about gathering in groups of people who do not live in the same household.
“Stay home wherever possible,” he said. “Don’t let your guard down.”
On 1/8, Gov. Baker announced a new initiative to conduct pooled COVID-19 testing at schools within the next month, which involves mixing several test samples in a “batch” or “pool,” a method that maximizes testing ability and utilizes fewer laboratory resources. If a pooled test is negative, then those tested are presumed to be negative; however, if a pooled test is positive, all individuals will be retested to identify individual cases.
On 1/7, Gov. Baker extended the Capacity and Gathering Limits until 1/24, meaning that most industries will remain at a 25% capacity limit.
Across the state over the past 14 days, the age bracket 0-19 is the leader in new confirmed cases with 10,220. The 20-29 age group saw 10,124 more cases; age 30-39 had 9,475 new cases; 40-49 had 8,217 new cases; 50-59 had 9,072; 60-69 had 6,546; 70-79 had 3,362; and 80+ had 2,629 new cases.
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