BOSTON (AP) - The state is planning to launch a new strategy to bring COVID-19 vaccine shots to some of the state’s hardest hit areas.
Beginning next week and ramping up over time, mobile and pop-up clinics will take to the streets of Chelsea, Revere, Boston, Fall River and New Bedford.
Vaccine doses will be picked up by mobile vaccination teams at the Hynes Convention Center - one of the state’s mass vaccination sites - and then distributed and administered in the communities.
Most of the mobile units and pop-up clinics will be set up in city parks, parking lots, and other community locations identified by the municipalities as easy to access for community members.
The effort is made part in possible by a partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is bringing in an additional 6,000 daily vaccine doses to the Hynes for an eight-week period.
The doses supplied to the mobile and pop-up clinics will come from the FEMA vaccines.
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VIRUS BY THE NUMBERS
The state’s confirmed COVID-19 caseload since the start of the pandemic topped 600,000 Thursday.
There were more than 2,400 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, while the number of newly confirmed coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts rose by 32.
The new numbers push the state’s confirmed COVID-19 death toll to 16,876 since the start of the pandemic.
The true number of cases is likely higher because studies suggest some people can be infected and not feel sick.
There were about 700 people reported hospitalized Thursday because of confirmed cases of COVID-19, with about 170 in intensive care units.
The average age of those hospitalized was 64. There were an estimated 33,000 people with current active cases of COVID-19 in the state.
The number of probable or confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported in long-term care facilities rose to 8,960.
More than 3.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Massachusetts, including more than 2.2 million first doses and more than 1.2 million second doses.
Nearly 1.4 million people have been fully immunized.
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MCAS TESTING
Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley is recommending the state modify graduation requirements for the Class of 2022 so this year’s 11th graders won’t be required to take the MCAS test to graduate due to the turmoil created by the pandemic.
Riley is also recommending that the timeline for administering the tests in grades three through eight and 10 be extended until June 11 to provide as much flexibility as possible for school districts.
In addition, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will offer remote administration of the English language arts, mathematics and science assessments this spring for grades three through eight to accommodate families who chose to have their children learn remotely through the end of the school year.
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SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY
The renowned Shakespeare & Company theater group in Massachusetts plans to resume live, in-person performances this summer with a production of “King Lear” starring Christopher Lloyd.
“King Lear,” which will run July 2 through Aug. 29, will also be the first production in The New Spruce Theatre, a new outdoor amphitheater under the towering spruce trees on the Shakespeare & Company campus in Lenox, the organization said in a statement this week.
Lloyd was originally scheduled to appear in the moving tragedy in 2020, but the entire season last year was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lloyd is perhaps best known as Doc Brown in the “Back to the Future” film franchise but has also appeared in “The Addams Family,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and the “Taxi” television series, for which he won two Emmys.
“King Lear” will be directed by Nicole Ricciardi.
At all performances, audiences will be required to wear masks, socially distance and adhere to state public health guidelines, the company said.
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