SEARCH

UMass Memorial Health President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson is pleading with his team leaders to voluntarily redeploy administrative staff to support the system’s coronavirus testing sites at the Mercantile Center in Worcester and the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, according to an internal memo circulated mid-afternoon on Friday.

Virtually all COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts are now resulting from the omicron variant. It took over in hospitals in late December, according to an analysis from Cambridge Health Alliance. It’s still early in the omicron surge, but it’s coming on fast, so we asked several doctors and nurses what they are seeing with omicron, to get a sense of how patients are faring and how this surge compares to prior waves of COVID.

WORCESTER, Mass. - In just one week, the City of Worcester has reported its highest one day increase, one week increase and seven-day average of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Since last week, Worcester reports 3,513 new confirmed positive cases, adding to the city’s total of 38,342 cases since March 2020. On Wednesday alone, the city reported 1,094 new cases. 

Hospital officials in Massachusetts are warning that intensive care unit (ICU) beds are nearing capacity as the state's positivity rate nearly doubled in a week due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.

"I was searching for an ICU bed for one of our patients, and every single facility is full. They are at full capacity. They have no ICU beds left," Dr. Melisa Lai-Becker, the medical director for the emergency department at Cambridge Health Alliance's Everett Hospital, told WGBH on Monday.

WORCESTER — Wednesday marked a grim record in the city's ongoing battle with COVID-19.

With 3,513 new cases since last week's press conference, the city is shattering records for transmission.

The website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes scores of bullet points and lists on how best to protect friends and family from COVID-19.

Regardless of the tab or sections, the information boils down to the same thing: get vaccinated.

“I think it’s the right move,” said Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health. “I support their decision. And we are actively considering it …. Once we’re through this latest surge — the worst of the three — we will likely follow suit.”

Dr. Melisa Lai-Becker, the medical director for the emergency department at Cambridge Health Alliance's Everett Hospital, spent much of Monday afternoon urgently calling hospitals all over the state.

"I was searching for an ICU [intensive care unit] bed for one of our patients, and every single facility is full," she said. "They are at full capacity. They have no ICU beds left."

WORCESTER, Mass. - Monday marked another day of long lines at the Mercantile Center COVID-19 testing site in downtown Worcester.

Hundreds of people lined up to get tested following the holiday season, including 250 people tested in the first hour the clinic was open on Monday.