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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
GUILTY VERDICT REVERBERATES All eyes in Massachusetts were fixed on a courtroom in Minneapolis yesterday, where the former officer who killed George Floyd was found guilty of murder on Tuesday afternoon. The much-anticipated verdict came a year after Floyd’s death sparked widespread protests and
A Barnstable County official said new COVID-19 case numbers have declined a bit since a third wave peak at the end of March.
But “we are not out of the woods yet,” said Vaira Harik, deputy director of the county’s department of human services.
“Our outbreak continues here on the Cape,” Harik said during a Thursday morning briefing by the Cape Cod COVID-19 Response Task Force.
The three days from Monday to Wednesday saw 213 new COVID-19 cases in Barnstable, compared to 90-plus new daily cases at the end of last month, Harik said.
Sean O’Brien, head of the county’s department of health and environment, said local officials are in preliminary talks with the state about establishing a vaccine pre-registration system on the regional level.
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday!
BAKER S POPULARITY SAGS It looks like Gov. Charlie Baker s approval rating took a hit during the coronavirus pandemic.
The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine at the beginning of the year, in particular, hurt the governor s standing among residents. An
online survey from three universities Harvard, Northeastern and Rutgers showed Baker s approval rating for how he handled the pandemic dropped by 21 percentage points. Baker s
approval rating was at about 80 percent in April of last year, and by this February had gradually declined to 59 percent.
That tracks with a UMass Amherst poll
“People are crying. They are anxious,” said Sigsbee, a member of the Cape Cod Medical Reserve Corps.
When will I get my vaccine?
The No. 1 question of tens of thousands of callers to the help line is, “When will I get my vaccine?” she said.
A limited number of vaccines going to Barnstable County’s elderly residents, combined with a state registration system known for booting people off the site as soon as they think they are closing in on an appointment, has filled help line callers with fear and frustration.
They want to know, “Will I be left behind?” Sigsbee said.
Cape Cod Times
COVID-19 vaccinations began rolling out in mid-December on Cape Cod as part of a three-phase schedule set up by Massachusetts health officials. Phase two began Feb. 1 and people ages 75 and up are the first group eligible for vaccinations.
Each phase is subdivided by eligible groups of people based on age, health risks, jobs and other factors. Vaccinations for the general public will begin in April in phase three.
In the latest: Gov. Charlie Baker opened up phase two COVID-19 vaccinations Thursday, Feb. 18, to about 1 million people age 65 and up. But Cape Cod officials said they re worried there s not enough vaccine available for people age 75 and up who still haven t gotten shots. Yarmouth Health Director Bruce Murphy, for one, called the news of the eligibility expansion “very disappointing.”