Vaccine Clinic At Saint Mary's Church Rowley

A very successful vaccination clinic at Saint Mary's Church, a collaboration between Conley’s Drug Store and Ipswich and Rowley municipal agencies and departments. 

With Charlie Costello Chairman of the Rowley Board of Health, Alex Doyle Conley's Drug Store of Ipswich, Frank Marchegiani Health Director Rowley, MA, Deborah Katchen, Health Agent Rowley, MA. and Richard Curran, Denise Gilman Activities Director Rowley COA, Eleanor Davis Director Rowley COA, the Senator, and Denise Gilman Activities Director Rowley Council on Aging, Captain David Sedgwick Rowley Police Department, Chief Scott Dumas of the Rowley Police Department. 

 

District Communities Awarded Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grants

#Gloucester, #Manchester-by-the-Sea, #Middleton, #Newbury, #NorthAndover, #NorthReading, and #Wilmington will receive critical training to better detect and avoid cyber threats. The grant program funds were authorized by the Legislature in 2020 and are managed by the Baker Administration's Executive Office of Technology Services and Security. 

These cybersecurity awareness grants will help municipalities and their employees protect their information technology and data from cyber threats. The online training materials provided to municipal and public school employees include a variety of cybersecurity attack simulations that reflect malicious luring techniques commonly used by cybercriminals to gain access to IT systems and data: 

* Email phishing attacks 

* ‘Smishing’ SMS attacks 

* USB drop attacks 

* Link-based, attachment-based, and data-entry attacks

 

Plans for Continued Reopening in Massachusetts

The Baker Administration is readying the state for a return towards reopening the economy. Step 2 of Phase III effective March 1 for all cities and towns. Effective March 22, gathering limits for event venues and in public settings will increase to 100 indoors and 150 outdoors. Outdoor gatherings at private residences and backyards will remain at a maximum of 25, with indoor house gatherings remaining at 10.

 

Baker-Polito Administration Announces $4.7 Million for Vaccine Equity in Hardest-Hit Communities; Regional Vaccination Collaboratives

The Baker-Polito Administration today announced a new $4.7 million initiative to promote COVID-19 vaccine equity in the 20 communities most disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The Administration also announced 11 high-efficiency regional vaccination collaboratives involving local health officials and other regional partners. 

Vaccination Appointments: Tomorrow, around 50,000 new appointments will be added at mass vaccination locations across the Commonwealth. This includes the mass vaccination locations at Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, Springfield, Danvers, Dartmouth and Natick. Retail pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens will also administer over 20,000 doses next week as well.

Residents can go to www.mass.gov/COVIDvaccine tomorrow morning to find and schedule their appointments. Appointment availability is very limited due to the constrained supply of vaccine doses that the Commonwealth is receiving from the federal government.

$4.7 Million for Vaccine Equity: The Administration today announced a $4.7 million effort to support its vaccine equity initiative announced last week, which focuses on reducing barriers to vaccination in the 20 hardest-hit communities in the Commonwealth. The Administration will work with Archipelago Strategies Group (ASG) and Health Care for All (HCFA) to best leverage these funds.

The initiative will support and coordinate with local leaders and community- and faith-based organizations to strengthen existing efforts in these cities and towns. These efforts will specifically focus on communities of color, homebound seniors, disabled individuals and other hard-to-reach populations. ASG and HCFA will provide hyperlocal, population-specific communication resources as well as hiring local residents and working with local organizations with cultural and linguistic competencies to reach disparately impacted populations in each priority municipality. ASG specializes in grassroots mobilization, partnering with local leaders, community organizations, and media partners to develop community-based solutions. As a subcontractor, HCFA will provide high-touch support for priority communities, including direct service support, community organizing, education, and outreach.

This work will complement the Commonwealth’s $2.5 million public awareness campaign, “Trust the Facts, Get the Vax,” adapting the campaign’s messaging for specific communities. The initiative will focus on the 20 municipalities with the greatest COVID-19 case burden, taking into account social determinants of health and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color. These communities are Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Leominster, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Methuen, New Bedford, Randolph, Revere, Springfield and Worcester. This work will be coordinated with targeted opportunities for increased vaccine access through existing and new locations, including pop up sites and mobile clinics.

Regional Collaboratives: In addition, the Administration today also designated 11 new regional collaboratives that will support efforts to streamline vaccination efforts. These collaboratives will leverage local health officials, regional hospitals and others to deliver high-throughput, efficient vaccination sites for all eligible residents across the Commonwealth beginning March 1. Collaboratives must meet several criteria:

Have capacity to vaccinate a minimum of 750 individuals per day, 5 days per week (subject to vaccine availability);

Meet an administration rate threshold of 85% and report doses within 24 hours;

Be open to all residents of the Commonwealth (collaborations may focus outreach efforts towards those who live or work in the area, but must be open to all Massachusetts residents)

Provide public links for vaccine appointments on www.mass.gov/COVIDVaccine.

New and existing collaboratives announced today:

Barnstable County

Berkshire County Boards of Health Association

Franklin County Regional Collaborative

Harrington Hospital, in Collaboration with LBOH

Heywood Hospital, in Collaboration with LBOH

Lawrence General Hospital, in Collaboration with LBOH

Marshfield-Plymouth

Northampton & Amherst

Randolph – Collaboration between Avon, Holbrook, and Randolph

Rutland

Worcester, Worcester State University, Commonwealth Medicine and St. Vincent Hospital

Information about booking appointments through these collaboratives will be available on www.mass.gov/COVIDvaccine in the coming days.

MassDOT Advisory Update: Wilmington

Temporary Right Lane Closures on Interstate 93 Southbound for Bridge Repairs Closures will take place from 8 p.m. on Friday, February 26, through 4 a.m. on Monday, March 1 

Right lane on Route 125 westbound and the on-ramp from Route 125 to Interstate 93 southbound still remain closed Motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes 

WILMINGTON– The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is announcing that it will be implementing temporary weekend closures of the two right travel lanes on Interstate 93 southbound near exit 41 (Route 125) in Wilmington. The lanes will be closed from 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 26, until 4:00 a.m. on Monday, March 1. The closures are necessary to allow work crews to continue repairs to a damaged beam on the bridge carrying Route 125 over Interstate 93. Additional work to complete the repairs will be scheduled for a later date.

On February 10, 2021, an over-height trash hauler truck struck and damaged the northern fascia beam on the Route 125 Bridge over Interstate 93. Since that time, the right lane on Route 125 westbound on the bridge and the on-ramp from Route 125 to Interstate 93 southbound have been closed. These closures will remain in place until the repairs can be fully completed to the damaged beam.

Drivers who are traveling through the area should reduce speed and use caution.

Appropriate signage, law enforcement details, and advanced message boards will be in place to guide drivers through the work area.

For more information on traffic conditions, travelers are encouraged to:

Dial 511 and select a route to hear real-time conditions. Visit www.mass511.com, a website that provides real-time traffic and incident advisory information, and allows users to subscribe to text and email alerts for traffic conditions. 

Follow MassDOT on Twitter @MassDOT to receive regular updates on road and traffic conditions. Download MassDOT’s GoTime mobile app and view real-time traffic conditions before setting out on the road.

In Support of Local and Regional COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics

I have observed the operations of municipal and regional vaccine sites that have served thousands of people- they work well and they have proven to be efficient and effective for those who need them. Yesterday, I joined with State Rep. Lenny Mirra​ for a press conference at the #WestNewbury clinic. 

Together, these municipalities are drawing on the strengths of first responders, boards of health, councils on aging, and others who have many hours of training and preparation for public health and safety emergencies such as this COVID-19 pandemic. Putting those strengths to work to vaccinate residents who are vulnerable, have limited mobility, and face other obstacles to obtaining vaccination at larger "super sites " in our Commonwealth. While those larger sites play an important role in accelerating the overall vaccination rate of our population, smaller localized efforts play an equally important role in reaching vulnerable, more isolated people who might otherwise be left behind.

 Local leaders call for local vaccination sites

 

 

COVID-19 VACCINE FINDER

Vaccine Website Update from EOHHS 

We have been informed that the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Service is working to resolve issues with the Vaccine Finder Website. "Due to extremely high traffic and volume, the VaxFinder tool and vaccine location websites are experiencing delays. We are working as quickly as possible to resolve these issues. Appointments will be made available soon and will be released throughout the morning."