WORCESTER, Mass. — The city of Worcester announced another record number of COVID cases within the last week. And despite the 85% of city employees who are fully vaccinated, break-through COVID cases are having an impact. That’s especially the case among firefighters.
According to the city manager, there are 110 firefighters in the city out right now, either with COVID or are awaiting test results, creating a real concern when emergencies arise.
According to the city’s latest numbers, there have been 3,513 cases in the last seven days. City Manager Ed Augustus says that number is likely higher since it doesn’t include results from all the at-home tests people are taking.
According to the city manager, 59% of city residents are fully vaccinated, 18% got their booster shot.
— Kelly Sullivan (@ksullivannews) January 6, 2022
Worcester is averaging just over 500 cases a day. To put that into perspective, the last surge averaged 195 cases a day. At UMass and St. Vincent hospitals, there are currently 258 COVID patients, and there have been 22 deaths since last week.
The city manager said to help make sure they have the personnel to respond to emergencies, they’ve stopped transferring firefighters around to other fire stations to prevent any spreading. In a news conference Wednesday, Augustus urged people to take this seriously and do their part to prevent the spread.
“When people tell you, ‘well, I don’t need to wear a mask, it’s only the flu,’ you want your fire department to answer the call and be there in a timely way? So the case that you may be cavalierly passing on to someone else might come back to you if we can’t get a police officer or a firefighter to you in a timely way. That is what we are talking about,” said Augustus.
So far, Augustus says they have not had to shut down any schools. With all the talk about COVID, he encouraged people to get their flu shot. He says they’re starting to see flu cases again after not having them last year.
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