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President Joe Biden is expected to extend a mask mandate on all public transportation Thursday through mid-March as the first case of the new omicron COVID-19 variant has been detected in the United States.

A vaccine mandate for private-sector workers across New York City will take effect this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.

WORCESTER — UMass Memorial Medical Center had 70 people waiting for beds at the University Campus on Friday — eight of whom needed intensive care beds — as COVID-19 surges followed after the Thanksgiving holiday. 

News outlets report on the decision of a superior court judge to deny requests from the fire department to delay the city's vaccine mandate, and a separate court decision which lifted a temporary injunction placed on San Diego Unified School District's student shot mandate.

The omicron variant is here in Massachusetts.

WORCESTER, Mass. — Massachusetts and 15 other states, including Connecticut, have confirmed the presence of the omicron coronavirus variant as of Sunday night — and federal health officials say it is just the beginning.

Governor Charlie Baker has asked hospitals to reduce the number of elective surgical procedures, but at UMass Memorial Medical Center, that won’t change things too much.

As the omicron variant of COVID pops up across the globe, stock markets are falling, travel bans are being enacted, lines are forming to get vaccines and boosters, and mask mandates are once again entering the political debate.

Author and advocate Elijah J. Stacy is using what he has learned through adversity in battling Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) to help others overcome their own challenges.

Health officials in Brockton and Worcester say they are on high alert and bracing to handle the first cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, should it spread to Massachusetts.

WORCESTER, Mass. - A new variant of COVID-19 discovered in South Africa is spreading and a local doctor says there are a number of mutations in this one and it could become the primary variant going forward.

New policies to combat an increasing number of hospital patients go into effect Monday.

Some surgeries could be put on hold as rising COVID-19 cases put a strain on local hospitals.