Coronavirus

Brookline reinstates indoor mask mandate for municipal buildings, including schools and libraries

By adamg - 5/20/22 - 5:57 pm

Brookline announced today masks will be required again in publicly owned indoor spaces starting Monday, due to rising Covid-19 rates in both the town and the surrounding area. Read more.

Covid-19 rates escalating again and now there's monkeypox from Montreal, although that doesn't spread like Covid-19

By adamg - 5/18/22 - 11:11 pm

Latest Covid-19 viral counts from the northern half of the MWRA sewer district. Source.

The Boston Public Health Commission reports the Covid-19 test positivity rate across Boston is now 11.5%. Statewide, the seven-day average rate is 9.13%, the state Department of Public Health reports. Read more.

Can ghosts get Covid-19?

By adamg - 5/17/22 - 10:26 pm

Jesse Kanson-Benanav reports finding an unusual request on a local Facebook group this evening, one that prompted him to thinking: "I haven't considered the impact that covid is having on psychic paranormal investigators." Read more.

Stoneham woman gets two years for role in pandemic-unemployment fraud scheme

By adamg - 5/13/22 - 12:04 pm

A federal judge yesterday sentenced Lily Nguyen to two years in federal prison for her part in a scheme to grab the personal information of more than 100 people to create bogus accounts on the Massachusetts pandemic unemployment portal, the US Attorney's office reports. Read more.

Outdoor-patio lawsuit: The musical

By adamg - 5/11/22 - 11:07 am

The Dig finds the lyrical side to the complaint by four North End restaurant owners over the fees they had to pay to use public sidewalks and streets for tables this year.

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Four North End restaurant owners make federal case out of outdoor dining fee, but say $1.5 million each would make them whole

By adamg - 5/9/22 - 8:08 pm

Four North End restaurant owners say the $7,500 fee they had to pay to extend their restaurants to the public sidewalk is just horribly unfair and so they filed a federal lawsuit against the city today. Read more.

Nothing wrong with Zoom trials during the pandemic, but woman deserves a new one because of all the technical glitches at hers, court rules

By adamg - 5/9/22 - 2:12 pm

The Supreme Judicial Court today ordered a new trial for a woman whose child a judge took away after a Zoom-based trial that started with the woman getting cut off and being unable to log in via video to make her pro-se case or even to hear some witnesses. Read more.

Covid-19 numbers heading up again

By adamg - 5/5/22 - 10:31 pm

Covid-19 hospitalization rate in Massachusetts

Mass. 7-day rolling hospitaliztion rate. Orange is fully vaccinated patients. Source: Mass. DPH.

The state today reported 4,376 new Covid-19 cases, compared to 2,985 just the day before. Read more.

Two North End restaurant owners and a Boston cop try to get in on multi-million-dollar lawsuit against city over rescinded vaccination requirements

By adamg - 5/3/22 - 12:01 pm

The owner of Antico Forno and Terramia, the owner of Vinoteca di Monica and a Boston police officer are seeking to join a lawsuit against Boston against the requirement for people to show proof of vaccination for most public indoor spaces that was lifted in February. Read more.

Court again denies immediate return to jobs for Mass General Brigham employees who refused Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 4/28/22 - 11:26 am

For the second time in five months, a federal court has ruled that Mass General Brigham employees who refused to get Covid-19 shots are not entitled to their jobs or pay back while their lawsuit over their firings or decisions to quit wends through the court system. Read more.

Covid-19 rate dips slightly in Boston, but hospitalizations keep going up

By adamg - 4/25/22 - 12:33 pm

Charts showing Covid-19 numbers down slightly in Boston, but that Covid-19 hospitalizations are up

Statistics announced by the Boston Public Health Commission today show a slight dip in Covid-19 rates in Boston of late, but the number of new cases per day remains far higher than in mid-March. Read more.

If only he'd waited a couple days: Mask hater not allowed on a T bus last week now has a BOLO issued for kicking the bus door

By adamg - 4/25/22 - 9:52 am

Surveillance photos via TPD.

Transit Police have released photos of a guy they say responded to being barred from a bus at the Massachusetts Avenue stop for refusing to put on a mask by kicking the bus door, causing a a spider-web crack that forced the bus out of service. Read more.

With thousands of people attending a convention, the odds were pretty good somebody might test positive for Covid-19

By adamg - 4/24/22 - 9:27 pm

If you visited the Pandemonium Books and Games booth at Pax East at the South Boston convention center, you might want to consider getting a Covid-19 test.

Court rejects Covid-19 insurance claims from owner of three Boston-area restaurants; says virus caused no permanent damage to his property

By adamg - 4/21/22 - 11:16 am

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that the insurers for Coppa and Toro in the South End and Little Donkey in Central Square do not have to reimburse owner Ken Oringer for Covid-19 losses because the virus did not cause the permanent damage to his tables and other furnishings that might be covered under his "all risks" policies. Read more.

Tufts continues to require masks indoors as undergraduate Covid-19 rate swells

By adamg - 4/21/22 - 9:14 am

Tufts Daily reports the university says masks can come off when the campus Covid-19 rates shrinks, but right now 6% of tested undergraduates are positive for the virus, so the mandate stays in place, no matter how many undergrads sign a petition to remove the mask mandate like other nearby schools have done.

At least as of 8:41 a.m., so don't go yelling at the driver about that judge in Florida.

With Covid-19 rates going up again, Boston urges, but doesn't require, a return to masks

By adamg - 4/13/22 - 11:21 pm

The Boston Public Health Commission reported today that the citywide Covid-19 test positivity rate has reached 6.2%, up from just 2.2% in early March. Read more.