A glimmer of hope?

A sharp decline in the level of coronavirus was seen in the wastewater yesterday, a drop of 30-40%! They have used this to track the level of current infection, so this is hopeful that we might have reached the peak and may see numbers drop in the next week. More info here.

Unfortunately, there is always a delay in hospitalizations, so we aren’t out of the woods yet. The hospital systems are having serious shortages of beds and healthcare workers, and we can expect this to continue for the next month plus, even if the Omicron surge is subsiding.

Facemasks

If you haven’t already, it’s time to update your facemask if possible. Given how contagious the Omicron variant is, cloth masks and even surgical masks aren’t thought to be very protective. Consider purchasing the N95, KN95, of KF94 masks, especially for higher risk situations (public, indoor settings, for instance). CNET offers more info here.

Boston, Brookline Vaccine Mandates

Starting on January 15, 2022, Boston is mandating vaccination in order to enter a variety of venues, including indoor dining, fitness, and entertainment. Here are the details.

Brookline is following suite, as may other towns, so you might want to check out your town’s requirements.

MA COVID-19 Smart Health Card

This week Massachusetts has rolled out a system to obtain your vaccination record and even carry it in an e-wallet. Start the process here.

The process is quite easy, but be sure to enter your information as you would have at the vaccination site. If there is a mismatch of information, it will tell you they can’t find your information and to contact your PCP. Unfortunately, I am not given access to records because I don’t administer vaccinations at the office. So next step will be to contact the site where you received your vaccination.

For those of you who obtained vaccinations out-of-state, unfortunately, state systems are not talking to each other. Again, the best option is to contact the site where you received your vaccination if you need a copy.

Stay safe out there, hoping for better days of 2022 soon!