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"Baker" in the news today:
Charlie Baker administration increases staff, hours at state coronavirus test sites; no plans for new locations as demand surges
PUBLISHED: January 5, 2022 at 6:44 a.m. | UPDATED: January 5, 2022 at 6:49 a.m.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration said it has increased staffing and the hours of operation at state-run coronavirus testing sites, but offered no information on plans for additional locations as demand spikes amid a holiday surge in cases.
“As has been the case historically, there is high demand for testing following holidays, and Stop the Spread testing providers have increased staffing and hours of operation to meet this demand where needed, and these sites serve as one of many options residents of the Commonwealth have to get tested,” a spokeswoman from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said.
The state has operated 38 free Stop the Spread testing sites throughout the pandemic and officials maintain that “COVID-19 testing remains a key tool to prevent transmission of the virus.”
But thousands of Bay Staters have found themselves left out in the cold for hours as they wait in massive lines to get tested for COVID amid the omicron surge.
State health officials on Tuesday reported 16,621 new coronavirus cases, a continuing spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations and a staggering surge in breakthrough infections.
Public health experts and lawmakers alike have called on the Baker administration to expand testing as hospitals fill up and cases surge.
State Sen. Rebecca Rausch, D-Needham, testified before the Legislature on Tuesday criticized “testing shortages” fueling cancelations and disruptions at schools and day cares. She was speaking in favor of mandating masks in schools.
But the Baker administration said the state-run sites are “one of many options” for testing available to residents. Cities and towns can order rapid at-home tests directly from manufacturers at lower, state-negotiated prices and there are hundreds of other testing locations across the state, according to a spokeswoman.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu criticized the hours-long waits as “unacceptable” following a swearing-in ceremony for the new city council on Monday.
Taking her comments a step further on Tuesday, Wu and her top health official said they would be rolling out more testing locations in the coming weeks and are talking with the state about a high-capacity site.
“We are looking to invest more in additional sites,” Wu told reporters at an unrelated press conference when asked about the matter. “We have been talking about trying to provide some higher-capacity sites in addition to smaller neighborhood sites because we want both geographic access for our communities, but also for people to know that there’s a place that can go where there’s more likelihood that they won’t have to wait as long in a line.”
Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, a Wu cabinet member and the head of the Boston Public Health Commission, said the goal is to open up three new testing sites “in the next couple of weeks.”
“These will be in different parts of the city,” Ojikutu told reporters. “While we’re working on this, we’re going to look at opening a higher capacity testing site that may also include vaccinations.”
She said the city is “in discussions” with the state on the bigger site. Both she and Wu said the city has to work to manage the lines of people waiting better than the area sites that some of the recent news coverage has shown, where people have been waiting outside in the cold.
“The goal is to provide all options to people so we’re trying to make this as easy as possible for people,” Ojikutu said.
https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2022/01/05/charlie-baker-administration-increases-staff-hours-at-state-coronavirus-test-sites-no-plans-for-new-locations-as-demand-surges/