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FITCHBURG — Rollstone Bank & Trust announced Friday a donation of $50,000 to the UMass Memorial Health’s HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital to expand local complementary care resources to cancer patients, according to a press release from the bank.

The donation will also be used to increase access to those most vulnerable populations that historically do not have access to life-saving preventative measures or subsequent cancer care.

WORCESTER, Mass. - The number of people getting tested for COVID-19 at the Mercantile Center is rising.

There were more long lines outside of the testing center Monday.

UMass Memorial Health runs the site and said they expect to test more than 1,000 people both Monday and Tuesday.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday he is activating up to 500 members of the National Guard to assist hospitals with the COVID-19 surge and updating the state's mask advisory.

The state Department of Public Health released an updated mask advisory Tuesday urging all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask or face covering in indoor public spaces.

Every morning in the Minneapolis metropolitan area, 200 to 400 people wait in an emergency room for a bed to come open.

“That’s the highest number ever,” said Dr. J. Kevin Croston, the CEO of North Memorial Health, which operates more than two dozen health care facilities in the area.

Since November, hospitals have understaffing, an escalation of behavioral health cases, and a worsening of a variety of diseases from over a year of delayed care. Now the surge in Covid-19 cases is spurring some hospitals to refuse to patients from other systems, close outpatient units and prepare “crisis standards of care.”

Amid surging COVID-19 infections, overflowing hospitals, and exhausted healthcare workers, Massachusetts hospital leaders are hanging on a glimmer of hope: some treatments, vaccines, and hard-won knowledge from the earlier outbreaks have meant fewer severely ill COVID patients.

And those who do need intensive care generally are recovering more quickly, doctors say.

On Tuesday, UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester instituted new visitor policies in response to rising COVID case numbers and the Omicron variant.

According to the new visitor policy, adult patients will only be allowed one designated visitor. This visitor must be the same individual throughout the course of the patient’s hospitalization, meaning other visitors for the same patient will not be permitted. The previous policy had allowed two visitors per patient. 

The Massachusetts Medical Society is pushing for a statewide mask mandate for indoor public spaces, with COVID-19 cases rising and straining hospitals, as several cities and towns have already reinstituted mandates in their communities.

A growing surge of COVID-19 patients is stressing already packed hospitals and causing more cancellations of elective procedures.

"We have a severe bed shortage crisis," said UMass Memorial Health President Eric Dickson. "The patients are backing up into the emergency department that need to be admitted into the hospital."