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Steve Roach, the interim president of UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, which has its main offices in Leominster, has been named to the position on a permanent basis.

Roach's appointment, which was announced Monday in a staff memo by Doug Brown, the president of UMass Memorial Community Hospitals, also keeps him as president of UMass Memorial's Marlborough Hospital, a position he's held since 2013.

Massachusetts is rolling back some coronavirus restrictions on Monday. But with the United Kingdom COVID variant in the state, two local doctors say now is not the time to let our guards down.

Coronavirus cases have taken an encouraging downward dip in the past week, including in Worcester County and the city of Worcester, but that relatively promising sign was tempered by a more contagious variant found this week in a person who was tested at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Massachusetts is now allowing everyone in Phase 1 to receive their COVID-19 vaccine. For hospitals, that means they can now give shots to everyone on staff.

At UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Dr. Andrew Karson, the chief medical officer, believes the vaccine is resulting in a reduction of cases among employees.

Kenneth R. Smith has visited the convention center in downtown Worcester many times over the years for trade shows and exhibitions. This month, he was there as a patient during a pandemic.

Smith was among dozens of COVID-19 patients being treated at a field hospital constructed inside the large hall of the DCU Center. Patients lie in beds in long rows across the convention center floor, separated by black curtains. There are no walls and no windows to offer a view of the outside world, just bright overhead lights and the thrum of a busy hospital.

Taming a ranging pandemic that has already claimed the lives of more than 400,000 Americans lies heavily in the rollout of the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine — a process that has been slow and arduous since the emergency approval of such jabs in the U.S.

Health Evolution: What were your thoughts watching the events of Wednesday January 6th unfold?

On Jan. 7, 2021, the U.S. hit another grim milestone, for the first time recording over 300,000 new cases of COVID-19 and over 4,000 deaths from the infection in one day.

Doctors at hospitals across Massachusetts – and the globe – believe the measures being taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus are responsible.