Gov. Baker said Johnson & Johnson vaccine vials make up only a small percentage of doses being sent to Massachusetts, so yesterday's federal announcement of a halt in its use won't significantly delay vaccinations here. Read more.
Gov. Baker said today that the state will open its Covid-19 vaccination registration to everybody over 16 on April 19, which he noted for people who might otherwise have forgotten, is Patriots Day. Read more.
WBUR reports a senior Baker aide accused teachers of trying to push old people and people with serious underlying conditions out of the way in their mad dash to get vaccinated now that the state is going to force all schools to return to in-class learning and the governor isn't having it. Read more.
Gov. Baker today announced two phases of Covid-19 easing, that includes expanding restaurant capacity on March 1 and giving stadiums and arenas the ability to re-open, although not at full capacity, as Massachusetts Covid-19 numbers continue to fall. Read more.
Gov. Baker announced today that on Monday, the state will increase the capacity of restaurants and other public-facing businesses from the current 25% to 40%. Read more.
WHDH reports Gov. Baker will lift the state's stay-at-home advisory on Monday because Covid-19 numbers are coming down. Also to be lifted: A 9:30 p.m. curfew for businesses such as restaurants.
The requirement that businesses restrict occupancy to 25% of their normal limits, however, will stay in place for another couple of weeks.
Daily hospitalization numbers since April. Source.
Gov. Baker today announced new restrictions on indoor gatherings that limit occupancy for restaurants and other businesses and houses of worship to just 25% of their Before Time maximums, down from the 40% allowed previously. Read more.
Gov. Baker said today Massachusetts had been expecting 59,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week but that the feds are now telling the state it will only get 42,900. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that Gov. Baker has the power to order businesses shut and to limit the size of gatherings during a public-health emergency, such as the current Covid-19 pandemic. Read more.
Gov. Baker today announced a phased approach to distribution of impending Covid-19 vaccine through next summer, starting this month with front-line hospital workers, followed by residents and workers at long-term care facilities, then first responders, people in prisons and homeless shelters, home-based health-care workers and, if there is enough vaccine left, health-care workers doing non-Covid-19 work. Read more.
Gov. Baker today announced that the state's hospitals will "curtail elective procedures that can be safely postponed," but that outpatient procedures that were also banned in March can continue. Read more.
Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, a job he took after moving from Harvard earlier this year, yesterday said he'd had enough of what he said is Charlie Baker's cavalier attitude toward Covid-19: Read more.
Several parents today sued Gov. Baker over his order requiring all students under 30 to get flu shots or risk getting kicked out of school, saying it infringes on their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and their rights to raise their children as they see fit. Read more.
WBZ reports the governor blanked the top of his ballot because he hates Trump but couldn't bring himself to vote for the Democrat. He had earlier said he would vote for the Trumpie who will be losing in a landslide to Sen. Ed Markey.
Acknowledging that recent increases in daily Covid-19 numbers are on the rise, Gov. Baker today called on residents to make renewed sacrifices.
To help them out, effective Nov. 6, mask wearing outdoors all the time by everybody will be recommended; people are being asked to stay inside between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and restaurants will have to stop serving diners by 9:30 p.m., although they can keep offering takeout after that. Read more.
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