As Massachusetts was preparing to continue its attack in the fight against the coronavirus, the state reported that the number of new cases and deaths with increasing virus victims continued to skyrocket.
The latest figures, including 4,968 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 47 new confirmed deaths, indicate that state and medical authorities will arrive in Massachusetts as early as the first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday or Tuesday. It’s the same as I expected.
The first phase of vaccination aimed at protecting health care workers from infection is a historic effort in the fight against the coronavirus, killing at least 11,057 state residents and infecting 274,897 since spring. Did.
The Public Health Service also reported that 67,754 people were estimated to have active cases of the deadly virus, but as of Saturday, 1,670 confirmed coronavirus patients were hospitalized.
Dr. David Hammer, a doctor at the Boston Medical Center and an epidemiologist at Boston University, said there was “great progress” in the development of vaccines for pathogens identified just 12 months ago. But he cited concerns about the global competition for the COVID-19 vaccine. This can affect the logistics of deploying vaccines fast enough to meet Massachusetts needs.
He is concerned about the safety of other important workers, such as police, paramedics, bus drivers, and clerk, along with health care workers, and it is important to vaccinate these people from illness. Said.
“Everyone who has regular and frequent contact with a large number of people, even for a short period of time — I hope we can protect that population,” says Hamer.
Governor Charlie Baker, who announced the state’s vaccination plan on Wednesday, said most of the state’s population would have to wait until spring to get vaccinated.
Once vaccination is initiated, the effort will help the state begin to withdraw the business and daily life restrictions imposed to protect people’s health.
“It will take time to get a fairly wide range of coverage and availability of vaccines,” Hamer said.
John Hilliard can be reached at [email protected]..
