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  • November 23, 2021 - Boston Herald

    Massachusetts hospitals, which are once again facing critical staffing and bed shortages, will soon be limiting non-essential pre-scheduled procedures to preserve resources and capacity.

    “The current strain on hospital capacity is due to longer than average hospital stays and significant workforce shortages, separate and apart from the challenges brought on by COVID,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders in a statement.

  • November 23, 2021 - Boston Globe

    The Baker administration on Tuesday ordered Massachusetts hospitals, already teeming with patients who delayed care during the early days of the pandemic, to reduce nonurgent surgeries to help manage a potential winter rush of people sick with respiratory illnesses, including the flu and COVID-19.

    The order comes as the coronavirus is again causing a surge of infections throughout New England with the onset of cold weather, with Massachusetts and Connecticut experiencing the steepest rise in cases in the country.

  • November 23, 2021 - Boston.com

    Amid an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations headed into the holidays, Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration is ordering Massachusetts hospitals with limited bed capacity to cut back on non-urgent, scheduled procedures.

    However, officials say the reason isn’t the recent increase in COVID-19 patients.

  • November 22, 2021 - Boston Globe

    WORCESTER — In the bay outside the crowded emergency department of UMass Memorial Medical Center, the ambulances keep coming.

    Just inside the doors, a pair of paramedics wait with their patient, an elderly woman on a stretcher.

  • November 22, 2021 - Worcester Business Journal

    A perfect storm is brewing in the world of medicine, as the wave of an aging population collides with a shortfall of future surgeons.

    Yet, the vascular surgery specialty in Central Massachusetts is breaking this troubling trend with technological innovation.

  • November 21, 2021 - Trinidad Guardian

    Countries in the Northern Hemisphere are facing an unpredictable winter as COVID-19 continues to spread during the flu season, experts have warned.

    Last year, when governments recommended a range of protective measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing and lockdowns to slow COVID-19 infections, the number of influenza cases dropped dramatically compared with the seasonal average.

  • November 20, 2021 - Worcester Business Journal

    The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a multitude of problems long lingering in the healthcare system: staffing shortages, racial inequities, increasing mental health needs, lack of access, lack of funding, rising costs, mistrust in the medical establishment. And there are concerns the system is increasingly being structured to limit exposure for insurers, rather than primarily serving the patients or providers. The sheer number of issues is daunting, yet areas can be addressed without breaking the bank.

  • November 19, 2021 - Reuters

    Nov 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for all adults six months after having been fully vaccinated with the shots from either Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc (MRNA.O).

  • November 18, 2021 - Bloomberg Baystate Business

    Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health in Worcester, on the rise in Covid cases and hospitalizations.

  • November 18, 2021 - Spectrum News

    RUTLAND, Mass. - COVID-19 vaccination eligibility is expanding in Massachusetts. Anyone 18 and older can now receive a booster shot. Meanwhile, younger kids are getting their first doses of the vaccine. 

    Nine-year old Isaac Tsai is getting his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “It means I’ll be more safe from the coronavirus," Issac, who received the Pfizer vaccine, said. 

  • November 12, 2021 - Boston Globe

    Massachusetts hospitals continue to face bed space issues this fall as a worrisome winter looms, the head of the state hospital association said Friday.

    “Capacity remains a serious challenge within hospitals and ICUs across Massachusetts, and they are each preparing for what will likely be yet another difficult winter,” said Steve Walsh, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association.

  • November 11, 2021 - Wicked Local

    Picture this: You're critically ill, perhaps dying, and your nearby hospital doesn't have any open beds in its intensive care unit.

    You're taken to the sky in a medical helicopter, as paramedics and dispatchers search for an available ICU bed on the ground – in a health care system stressed by staffing shortages and hammered by COVID-19.

  • November 9, 2021 - Boston Business Journal

    Capacity challenges and workforce issues have created unprecedented strain on the state's hospitals.

  • November 9, 2021 - Boston Business Journal

    Legislators are preparing a bill that would make it harder for large health systems to expand to the suburbs, a proposal that several hospital leaders applauded as a promising first step to shoring up the state’s most vulnerable institutions.

  • November 8, 2021 - Bloomberg Baystate Business

    Dr. Robert Klugman, medical director of employee health at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester, on the vaccine mandate for their employees (1:02:19)

  • November 8, 2021 - CommonWealth Magazine

    In her victory speech after cruising to a landslide win in the Boston mayor’s race, Michelle Wu spoke of the urgency of “bold” change to “meet the moment” the city is facing, a theme she sounded throughout her campaign. But she also talked about the importance of basic city services, saying her administration can pay attention to both. 

  • November 6, 2021 - MassLive

    Though kids ages 5 to 11 are starting to get vaccinated against COVID-19, one Central Massachusetts physician said a big drop-off in case counts isn’t expected.

  • November 6, 2021 - Boston Business Journal

    The state’s largest health systems are terminating hundreds of health care workers for failing to meet vaccine mandate deadlines. 

  • November 6, 2021 - Boston Herald

    Demand for monoclonal antibodies to treat coronavirus has surged at Massachusetts hospitals in recent months as awareness about the once-little-known drug and its incredible effects is increasing, bringing patients in from a dozen different states.

  • November 5, 2021 - Telegram & Gazette

    WORCESTER – Kevin Moore was skeptical.  

    He wasn’t sure he should get an infusion of monoclonal antibodies to fight off early symptoms from his COVID-19 infection. 

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