FOR A MOMENT, imagine you commute to work each day by train. A co-worker also commutes by train, but on a different line. Every day your co-worker arrives late, missing important meetings. You both live equidistant from the office and take the same mode of transport, yet you are always on time, while your co-worker […]
COVID-19
Posted inOpinion
Requiring masks on public transit makes no sense
THERE ARE FACTS and there are perceptions. These are often very different things. And when you are trying to guide and inform human decision-making, perceptions often matter more than facts. Many years ago, in the midst of a typically combative election in my East Boston neighborhood, a political wise guy said to me, “What’s important […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lawmakers agree on emergency order compromise
STATE LAWMAKERS on Tuesday night struck a deal and shipped Gov. Charlie Baker legislation to restore the lapsed authorization for remote public meetings, to-go cocktail sales, and town meeting flexibilities, while leaving the future of other pandemic-era policy adaptations as a subject for future negotiations. Baker’s COVID-19 state of emergency ended at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, […]
Posted inEconomy
Senate votes to extend some COVID orders
WHILE THE PANDEMIC-related health emergency may be winding down, it will take time for society to return to a fully normal state. Lawmakers are now grappling with which aspects of pandemic life need to continue, at least for a limited time. The Senate on Thursday passed a wide-ranging bill that would extend a number of […]
Posted inUncategorized
COVID and children: Risks are small, but not zero
NOW THAT Aubrey Samost and her husband are vaccinated against COVID-19, Samost said the Cambridge couple wouldn’t think twice about going out to dinner – except they have a 15-month-old daughter, who is too young to be vaccinated. “It’s been tough figuring out what we can and can’t do with her,” Samost said. “We feel like we can do a lot […]
Posted inThe Download
Pooled COVID testing finally coming to childcare centers
For six months, Massachusetts’ K-12 schools have been able to opt into the state’s free pooled testing program, which lets them test for COVID-19 weekly among large populations of asymptomatic children and staff. The idea is to have a quick way to identify COVID cases before one case turns into an outbreak. On Thursday, the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Pooled COVID testing finally coming to childcare centers
FOR SIX MONTHS, Massachusetts’ K-12 schools have been able to opt into the state’s free pooled testing program, which lets them test for COVID-19 weekly among large populations of asymptomatic children and staff. The idea is to have a quick way to identify COVID cases before one case turns into an outbreak. On Thursday, the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC justices skeptical of requiring more COVID testing in jails
SEVERAL JUSTICES of the Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday appeared skeptical of claims that county jails are showing deliberate indifference to prisoners by failing to provide regular COVID-19 testing and, in some cases, appropriate videoconferencing opportunities. Justice Scott Kafker, questioning attorney Jessie Rossman of the ACLU, who was representing the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Massachusetts offers a vaccine to every inmate […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker: I forgot about Walsh interview
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said Friday he “forgot” he had spoken with former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh before naming him to the post, and expressed interest in taking action to implement reforms at the home after last year’s deadly COVID-19 outbreak. Though Baker had previously said he first met Walsh, who was hired despite […]
Posted inEducation
Lots of academic catch-up needed, say K-12 parents
WHILE MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS look to close out the school year with something approximating a normal routine and setting, a majority of parents across the state say their children will have have to catch up academically in the fall after what’s been described by many as a “lost year” undone by the COVID-19 pandemic. That is […]