The state Department of Public Health has added Pennsylvania, Delaware, Colorado and West Virginia to the list of states from which people - including returning Bay Staters - no longer have to quarantine for 14 days or show proof of a recent negative Covid-19 test when they arrive here, because they all now have positive Covid-19 test rates under 5% and low total daily numbers.
They join all of New England - except for Rhode Island - New York and New Jersey.
An analysis of the genetic makeup of Covid-19 samples from the early days of the pandemic in Massachusetts suggests a two-day conference at the Marriott Long Wharf provided the spark that set off a Covid-19 conflagration in a state not yet fully prepared to deal with it. Read more.
Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency-room physician at Brigham and Women's with a penchant for health policy, reported yesterday that state stats show that for the third week in a row, Boston has not had any of the "excess" deaths that started climbing as Covid-19 erupted here earlier this year. Read more.
Mayor Walsh today declared racism a public-health crisis in Boston and announced he is shifting $3 million from the Boston Police overtime fund to public-health efforts - and that he will also the City Council to approve another $9 million shift from police overtime to efforts aimed at ending racial disparities in Boston. Read more.
Staffers at Boston Hope, the 1,000-bed field hospital set up in a week in April to handle a surge of Covid-19 patients, cheered and clapped yesterday as the hospital's last three patients were discharged. Being Boston, of course, they also sang "Sweet Caroline" for one. Read more.
Brookline officials announced today that the town will select 400 random residents to test for antibodies to Covid-19, to help gauge just how far the virus has spread through the town. Read more.
Gov. Baker announced today that a non-profit group working with the state is hiring 1,000 "contact tracers" to interview Covid-19 patients and find out all the people they may have come in contact with to follow them and get them testing and care if needed. Read more.
Over the weekend, BPS custodians and Tufts Medical Center staffers converted the Quincy Elementary School cafeteria, just down Washington Sstreet from the hospital, into a clinic for screening people with Covid-19 symptoms. Read more.
Mayor Walsh today ordered all construction companies to secure their sites and stop all work by Monday for at least two weeks and said both city libraries and community centers will be shut - libraries tonight, community centers on Wednesday - to try to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Read more.
Ed note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Brookline had set a 5 p.m. curfew on restaurants, because ye ed can't read.
Brookline officials today banned lines of more than 10 people at restaurants and bars - but has lifted its ban on styrofoam containers, to help restaurants speed up preparation of takeout and delivery orders - as part of a town declaration of a state of emergency due to Covid-19. Read more.
With schools, restaurants, bars and houses of worship closing, the union representing many BPL employees today demanded that library officials order an immediate shutdown of Boston libraries because of concerns that with all the other closings, city libraries will quickly become Covid-19 breeding grounds. Read more.
Gov. Baker today ordered all restaurants shut - except for kitchens, which can keep filling take-out orders, until April 7, and banned all gatherings of more than 25 people.
Big Night Entertainment, which runs 17 clubs, bars and restaurants in Boston and at Foxwoods announced today it's shutting all of them until April 1 due to Covid-19 concerns.
After seeing long lines outside South Boston bars yesterday, Mayor Walsh today ordered all bars and restaurants to immediately cut their capacity by 50% and to close no later than 11 p.m. Read more.
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