COVID

Live updates: The latest news on the coronavirus pandemic in Massachusetts

Follow the latest reports on COVID-19 in Massachusetts below.

CVS Pharmacy Technician Leslie Carnejo waits for 15 minutes after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at a CVS in East Boston to make sure she doesn't have an allergic reaction on Feb. 12, 2021. Erin Clark/Globe Staff

By Ainslie Cromar, Arianna MacNeill, and Dialynn Dwyer

4 minutes to read

Related Links

Last week’s updates can be found here.

Officials: 1st detected case of South Africa virus variant in Mass. found in Cambridge woman (Feb. 19)

The first detected case of the COVID-19 variant that was originally identified in South Africa was found this week in a Cambridge woman, officials announced Thursday. Massachusetts public health officials reported Tuesday that the first case of the variant had been identified, but shared only that the case involved a woman in her 20s who is a resident of Middlesex County. It was genetic sequencing completed at the Broad Institute that revealed the case of the variant, B.1.351.According to the Cambridge Public Health Department, the woman tested positive for COVID-19 in January and followed self-isolation guidance. There are no known contacts connected to her case, and she did not report traveling recently. “Detection of the variant comes many weeks after testing positive as genome sequencing, which confirms the variant, takes additional time to conduct,” the department said in a statement. Claude Jacob, Cambridge’s chief public health officer, said in a statement that the detection of the variant points to the strength of the city’s disease surveillance system.“It is also a reminder that this pandemic is far from over, and we all must continue to wear masks, social distance, and get vaccinated when it is our turn,” he said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the B.1.351 variant is believed to spread more easily, just as the variant first detected in the United Kingdom, B.1.1.7. There are currently 29 known cases of the UK variant in Massachusetts. The CDC and other public health experts are warning that the more contagious UK variant will likely become the dominant source of new coronavirus infections this spring.

Teachers push for vaccination plan as they continue to be excluded from rollout (Feb. 18)

Teachers continue to be frustrated with their place in line in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that residents 65 and over, and those with two or more medical conditions that put them at higher risk for becoming seriously ill if they get COVID-19, could begin making appointments on Thursday.The governor didn’t say when the next Phase 2 group, which includes teachers and grocery store workers, would be able to get their vaccines.“It’s been disheartening and in some cases it feels like a slap in the face,” Eugenia Doncov, a high school teacher in Framingham, told WBZ.Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and others, have sent a letter to the Marylou Sudders, secretary of state Health and Human Services, asking for implementation of a “Last Mile Vaccine Delivery” program, which would vaccinate educators in 10 to 20 school districts with the greatest need. The program would bring the vaccines directly to school districts and would have firefighters and EMTs administer them. If the state approved it, teachers could begin getting vaccinated this month.“The state has no plan in place to get the vaccine into the arms of all school employees, so we’ve united with the firefighters’ union to create our own,” MTA President Merrie Najimy said in a press release. “Unions are charged with protecting the health and safety of their members, which ultimately protects their communities,” Najimy wrote. “By streamlining an onsite process for vaccinating school employees, this union-led plan will make our schools and communities safer. It’s time to act.”

‘Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition’ forms, issues 5 demands of Gov. Baker (Feb. 16)

Elected officials and public health experts, alongside civil rights and immigrant justice leaders, are launching the “Vaccine Equity Now!” Coalition to raise awareness about racial inequities in Massachusetts’ vaccine rollout, and call for action from Governor Charlie Baker.

Advertisement:

The coalition plans on announcing five demands of the state to begin addressing the issues in a zoom event at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

In the two months since the vaccine rollout began, Baker’s administration has faced criticism for a sluggish and uneven start, while early polls and politicians have continued to warn about the hesitancy residents of color face in trusting the vaccine due to a history of mistreatment from medical institutions in the U.S.

Mass. state Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz and State Representative Liz Miranda are slated to speak at the event as well as a lineup of other guests.

Advertisement:

“For over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts and across the nation has been characterized by dramatic racial inequities across cases, hospitalizations, and deaths,” the coalition said in a Tuesday statement. “But now with vaccines finally available, White residents have received the vast majority of the state’s vaccine doses. As of last week, White residents had received 12 times more doses than Black residents and 16 times more doses than Latinx residents.”

Comprised of eleven organizations, the coalition includes the Massachusetts Public Health Association, ACLU Massachusetts, Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition, La Colaborativa, and the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA, among others.

Get Boston.com's browser alerts:

Enable breaking news notifications straight to your internet browser.

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com