Worcester County has surpassed 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a somber milestone less than a year after the pandemic first hit the region.
The 2,000th death was recorded in the same week the United States hit its own bleak mark: 500,000 deaths. The city of Worcester surpassed 400 deaths.
Those numbers come as cases continue a sharp fall nationally and across Massachusetts, though less so in Worcester County. New cases were roughly flat in Worcester County in the past week through Thursday, coming as the region stands out from other Massachusetts counties for unusually high number of cases linked to a variant first found in the United Kingdom believed to be both more contagious and possibly more deadly.
Big E remains ‘in the running’ as site for regional vaccine collaborative, but not chosen in state’s latest round
Updated Feb 24, 2021;
WEST SPRINGFIELD Massachusetts announced Wednesday 11 new collaborative regional COVID-19 vaccination sites, but a proposed three-community site at the Big E wasn’t one of them.
“But we are in the running if supply (of doses) increases,” West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt said following Gov. Charlie Baker’s announcement. “If we just had more doses, I think everybody would be happy. But I guess that goes for everyone across the country.”
The Big E clinic was proposed by Westfield, West Springfield, Agawam and Southwick because the state has pulled back from supplying doses to smaller clinics run by local health departments.
Around 50K COVID vaccine appointments at Massachusetts super vaccination sites nearly all booked due to ‘severely limited’ supply, state says
Updated Feb 25, 2021;
Posted Feb 25, 2021
Ambulance employees are able to take six doses per vile of the coronavirus vaccine. They re picture here at the super vaccination site at Fenway Park in Boston (Douglas Hook/MassLive)
Facebook Share
Only a few hours after roughly 50,000 coronavirus vaccination appointments became available Thursday morning at super vaccination sites in Massachusetts, the state is now reporting that nearly all of those slots have been filled.
The state’s announcement comes after residents waited in lines that reached more than 100,000 people for periods of time in the digital waiting room of the commonwealth’s appointment-booking website, vaxfinder.mass.gov, to try to cement a time and place to get immunized in the next week at one of the six large-scale vaccination sites in Massachusetts.