Pre-holiday push for virus tests stresses taxed system
By Laura Krantz and Dasia Moore Globe Staff,Updated December 19, 2020, 2:38 p.m.
Email to a Friend
At the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, a bucket of glass tubes awaited swabs that will be tested for COVID-19.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Appointments for COVID-19 tests have been increasingly harder to come by in recent days, as virus case numbers surge and residents clamor for tests before the holidays.
Appointment-only testing sites across the state were largely booked on Friday, a sign that suggests
many still plan to travel or see friends and family for the holidays, despite warnings from Governor Charlie Baker
Boston Medical Center (BMC) received the area’s first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine on Monday morning, taking it into cold storage immediately and, on Wednesday, beginning the first rounds of vaccinations on staff members.
Mass General Brigham followed suit on Tuesday, receiving 9,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and putting it in storage as well. On Wednesday, prioritized employees began to be vaccinated throughout its network of 12 hospitals.
Belza Betancur, RN, received the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine administered by Massachusetts General Hospital on Dec. 16, 2020. The hospital hopes to vaccinate thousands of prioritized employees in the coming weeks and months.
As COVID-19 surges, swabbers carry on ⦠and on ⦠and on â¦
By Kay Lazar Globe Staff,Updated December 16, 2020, 9:05 a.m.
Email to a Friend
Karina Mendoza is a registered nurse who works full time swabbing at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
They have worked in tents, weathering the sweltering heat, lightning, and now snow. Theyâve faced seemingly endless lines of sometimes frustrated and frightened people seeking COVID-19 tests. They are the ones who have had to tell people it may be days before they receive their results.
After more than nine months of COVID testing, the army of health care workers on the