MA not shut down, but slowing down

BOSTON — The last week of December in 2020 began with a “day of hope” and the launch of widespread COVID-19 vaccinations. A year later, 2021 is ending with a “blizzard” of new infections, as Treasurer Deb Goldberg described it.

Postponements and cancellations are filling the news again. Infections forced many to alter their holiday plans, caused the NHL to put all of its games on hold, and left scores of travelers stranded at airports as the virus put a dent in airline workforces. And starting Monday, some non-essential medical procedures are being put off to protect health care capacity.

Massachusetts recorded its highest single-day infections total on Friday with 10,040, breaking records that were set on Wednesday and Thursday. Department of Public Health officials on Monday plans to provide the latest snapshot of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths at 5 p.m. when a report is due out reflecting data from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

While vaccinations and boosters have helped reduce deaths, hospitalizations, and people suffering severe illness due to COVID-19, the state has now posted more than 20,000 confirmed and probable deaths from a virus that arrived 21 months ago and has since mutated.

Goldberg, who said she was nearly hospitalized during her bout with the virus, said, “there really isn’t an appetite” for the types of shutdowns that were put in place earlier in the pandemic.

However, in a nod toward the omicron variant’s fast spread, Goldberg said she is pausing her office’s requirement that employees report to work two days a week until Martin Luther King Day, which is Jan. 17, when the office’s hybrid work approach will be reevaluated.

“For now, I would keep it closed,” Goldberg added, referring to the long and continuing closure to the public of the State House.

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