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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.

“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.”

WORCESTER (CBS) – The president of UMass Memorial Health Care says this month is going to be “rough” for hospitals in the state.

WORCESTER, Mass. — Hundreds of people in Massachusetts waited for hours outside in the cold in order to receive a COVID-19 test following the New Year's holiday weekend.

“Patients like being in their home, where they’re happier and sleeping in their own beds, surrounded by loved ones, their favorite cat and TV,” said Dr. Taki Michaelidis, medical director of the program at UMass Memorial Health. “In your home environment, you just recover better.”

Bay Staters are having their patience tested to kick off the year as thousands of people on Monday waited in massive lines — some shivering in the bitter cold for hours — to get tested for COVID amid the omicron surge.

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.

WORCESTER — When Ashley Rivera chooses names for her children, she tries to pick something unique.

"I pick names that will make them stand out in the world," she said.

WORCESTER, Mass. - It was another busy day of COVID-19 testing at the Mercantile Center in downtown Worcester on Thursday.

Hundreds of people lined up to get tested before New Year’s Eve. 

"I don't know how anyone could believe that allowing the most expensive, largest health care system in the state to expand at the expense of smaller, less expensive health care systems could reduce the cost of health care in the state," said Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health.

WORCESTER — The president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health in Worcester says hospitals in central Massachusetts and across the state are dealing with a surge in COVID-19 cases that is only expected to get worse in the weeks ahead.

"In my 30 years working there, we have never been as busy at UMass as we have in the last month," Dr. Richard T. Ellison, UMass Memorial Health infectious disease expert, said.