FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Gillette Stadium is not a place that has produced much in the way of joy this past year. But happy were those who hedged their bets on winter storm warnings and kept early COVID-19 vaccination appointments Monday because the weather didn’t substantially deteriorate until late afternoon.
“Part of the reason I aimed for this place is I expected that this operation would have a slick, efficient system and I believe they do,” said Rich Larkin, who traveled 40 miles from Bolton to get his first shot.
Not that Larkin wasn’t mindful of the storm.
“Now I see flakes in the air,” he said. “But I think I’ll be good.”
>>>MORE: Snow falling in most of Mass. while coastal areas see wintry mix
While the original plan was to close the Gillette clinic at 3 p.m., it was still accepting those with appointments hours beyond that, a point at which heavy snow was falling sideways across the nearly empty parking lot in front of the Putnam Club.
CIC Health, which is running the Gillette clinic and another at Fenway Park, said the facility will open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. But New England Patriots Spokesperson Stacey James told Boston 25 News they are encouraging those with appointments to reschedule for later in the week in case roads are hazardous in the immediate hours after the storm.
Those who braved the weather Monday had high praise for the organizational aspect of the Gillette operation.
“It’s perfect,” said Marcie from Stoughton. “They have it down to a science. They know exactly what they’re doing. They have everything right. I never saw anything run so perfectly.”
“It was very organized, and it didn’t take long at all,” said John Risser of North Attleboro. “We were ahead of schedule.”
Patricia Goode agreed.
“The people were absolutely wonderful,” she said. “It was so orderly. Everybody knew what their job was.”
>>>MORE: Fenway Park begins mass vaccinations as winter weather approaches
Those getting vaccinated Monday were doing so on a historic occasion, though probably most didn’t realize it. It was one year ago, on February 1, 2020, that Massachusetts had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in a University of Massachusetts-Boston student who had returned from his native Wuhan, China.
“It’s crazy, what’s happened the past year " said Lynn Goode, Patricia’s daughter. “We’re thankful the [vaccine] roll-out is starting, and this is going to become available hopefully to all in the coming months.”
For now, Gillette and Fenway are only vaccinating those age 75 and over, a group considered to be at higher risk of more severe COVID-19 infection.
For Bill Haley of Foxborough, the end to the pandemic can’t come soon enough.
“There’s nothing to do. You can’t go anywhere. You’re confined to your house,” he said, after getting his shot. “It’s dragging on you.”
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