Chamber News

Boston Globe – The universe of Massachusetts residents eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine dramatically expanded on Monday as appointments opened to people 55 and older and those with one qualifying health condition, which now includes anyone who qualifies as overweight. Massachusetts health officials on Friday added being overweight to the list of health conditions that allow someone to…

WGBH – On Monday, thousands of elementary students headed back to classrooms full-time, many for the first time in months. For parents and students, it’s a mixed bag of emotions — especially as coronavirus cases tick back up. Dr. Fatima Watt is the director of behavioral health services at Franciscan Children’s in Boston. She said talking…

President Biden and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director are sounding the alarm on rising coronavirus cases across the country, urging people to not let their guard down and “just hold on a little longer” amid the vaccine rollout. Virus case counts in the past week spiked by 10 percent across the country, and cases…

As President Joe Biden signed the PPP Extension Act of 2021 into law today, extending the Paycheck Protection Program an additional two months to May 31, 2021, and then providing an additional 30-day period for the SBA to process applications that are still pending, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, said: “Today, President Biden…

MassLive – As Fenway Park’s role as a Massachusetts COVID vaccination site came to a close, the vendor running the location posted a video celebrating the last person to receive a shot at the Boston stadium. CIC Health posted a video showing Frannie Chan leaving Fenway Park. Workers clapped as Chan walked out of the stadium.…

Bloomberg – Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. effectively prevented coronavirus infections, not just illness, with substantial protection evident two weeks after the first dose, government researchers said. Two doses of the vaccines provide as much as 90 percent protection against infection, according to data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study…

State House News – The chairs of a legislative oversight committee came out of a lengthy hearing convinced that they need to “dig deeper” into why the Baker administration felt local public-health experts and the emergency plans they’ve fine-tuned for decades were not viable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton and Rep.…

State House News – Massachusetts “should not necessarily head down” the road of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for state troopers and other public workers at this point, Gov. Charlie Baker said, voicing an interest in first seeing more “normalization to the whole idea of getting vaccinated.” Asked during a radio interview if he believes the shots should…

The Department of Public Health’s projection of active COVID-19 cases crept above 30,000 on Sunday, reflecting the increase in new cases in Massachusetts that has drawn attention from health experts. Sunday’s estimate of 30,772 active cases, roughly equivalent to the population of Needham, is the highest since Feb. 26 and an increase of more than…

State House News – The check will be in the mail. State and local governments in Massachusetts are set to receive about $7.9 billion in direct aid from the latest round of federal stimulus, and U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said Monday that the state should see that cash around the second week of May. “The…