Massachusetts

Massachusetts COVID cases and hospitalizations on the rise again, new variant BA.2.86 has ‘lots of mutations’

Published

9 months ago

September 1, 2023

Massachusetts COVID cases and hospitalizations on the rise again, new variant BA.2.86 has ‘lots of mutations’

COVID cases and hospitalizations are on the rise yet again, just as the school year kicks off, as a new variant with “lots of mutations” may lead to more infections in people who previously had COVID or who received vaccines and boosters.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Thursday reported a weekly count of 2,171 virus cases, up 6% from last week’s count of 2,048 COVID cases.

The daily average of virus cases is now up to 310, more than four times the daily rate of 75 cases from the beginning of July.

There are now 342 patients hospitalized with COVID, up 42 patients from last week’s count of 300 patients. Hospitalizations had dipped to 100 patients in July.

In addition to the recent rise in local cases and hospitalizations, the Boston-area COVID wastewater has been ticking up — the first sign of more virus cases at the community level. The south-of-Boston wastewater average has gone up 36% in the last week, while the north-of-Boston average has jumped 55%.

This increase in cases and hospitalizations comes as a new variant BA.2.86 has been detected. The large number of mutations in BA.2.86 raises concerns that the variant will better evade existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections.

“Cases and hospitalizations are on the uptick and as such, people should use this as a time to check they are up to date on their boosters, especially those who are older or high risk,” said Matthew Fox, a Boston University School of Public Health epidemiology professor. “But even at the elevated rates we are seeing now, it is still not anything like what we’ve seen in the past. We are in a much better position with so much natural and vaccine induced immunity.

“There is a new variant of concern with lots of mutations, but we don’t yet know that that means anything in terms of infectiousness or severity, and often variants of concern never turn into anything serious,” he added. “So the key is for everyone to just make sure they are up to date on vaccinations.”

According to the CDC, scientists are evaluating the effectiveness of the forthcoming, updated COVID-19 vaccine. CDC’s current assessment is that this updated vaccine will be effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization. At this point, there’s no evidence that this new variant is causing more severe illness.

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Massachusetts

Massachusetts Senate approves budget for Fiscal Year 2025

Published

2 hours ago

May 27, 2024

Press Room

Massachusetts Senate approves budget for Fiscal Year 2025

BOSTON, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – The Massachusetts Senate Has unanimously approved a nearly 58-billion-dollar budget for Fiscal Year 2025.

As the commonwealth faces challenges of inflation, and economic uncertainty, the Senate is committed to help build long-term economic growth of the state.

The senate budget focuses on the following areas:

Education, public, safety, public health and social services, tourism, community support, and much more.

So far, the following allocations have been secured:

$200k for Berkshire County Sheriff opioid task force $100k for Berkshire education resources k-12 $50k for Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness $25k for It Takes a Village Foundation and $12.5k for Southwick fire equipment

For a full list of budgets landmarks you can visit the Senate budget website.

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Massachusetts

Massachusetts stabbing spree suspect arrested – UPI.com

Published

9 hours ago

May 26, 2024

Press Room

Massachusetts stabbing spree suspect arrested – UPI.com

May 26 (UPI) — A suspect in a Massachusetts stabbing spree is facing charges of assault with intent to murder and two counts of battery with a dangerous weapon after police say he stabbed two people in a Plymouth restaurant Saturday.

Twenty-six-year-old Jared Ravizza was arrested at 7:15 p.m. Saturday night but is in the hospital receiving treatment for non-life threatening injuries, District Attorney Tim cruz of Plymouth County said in a statement.

Ravizza is also believed to be connected to the stabbing attack of four girls in a nearby AMC movie theater about an hour earlier, as well as a murder that took place in Connecticut.

Ravizza allegedly stabbed a 21-year-old female and a 28-year-old male, both employees of a McDonald’s in a highway rest area in Plymouth, Mass., at about 7 p.m. Saturday, shortly before being arrested in the town of Sandwich, according to the District Attorney’s office. Both victims were both transported to the hospital for treatment of their injuries.

Security footage showed a person thought to be Ravizza stabbing the male employee through the drive-thru window before parking his car, entering the McDonald’s and stabbing the female victim, prosecutors said. They said he left in the car he was driving following the attacks.

About an hour before the attacks at McDonald’s, the suspect, believed to Ravizza, entered an AMC movie theater in Braintree and allegedly stabbed four girls between the ages 9 and 17 years old, police said.

Braintree police Department in a statement said the suspected entered the theater without paying.

“Without saying anything and without any warning, he suddenly attacked and stabbed the four young females,” the department said in a statement. “The attack appeared to be unprovoked. After the attack, the man ran out of the theater and left in a vehicle.”

The four victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to Boston hospitals for treatment, it said.

Police said they arrested Ravizza at about 7:15 pm Saturday after he fled the theater in a black Porsche SUV. Police tracked him down using a license plate number they could see in video surveillance footage, which they shared with other law enforcement agencies.

Police linked the vehicle to both stabbing incidents and were able to arrest Ravizza.

Ravizza could also be linked to a murder investigation at a home in Deep River, Connecticut.

Connecticut State Police said in a statement that officers responded to a report of a disturbance at a Deep River address. Upon arrival, they located a dead body.

Though Ravizza was not identified by name, Connecticut State Police said “a suspect in this investigation has been taken into custody in the State of Massachusetts.”

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