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WORCESTER, Mass. — Throughout the pandemic, one of the challenges for the medical community has been finding ways to treat a new disease.

Hope is now emerging as some promising new drugs become available.

Human connection is essential for all of us. In fact, social isolation can be as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and can lead to other serious health problems. COVID-19 restrictions and quarantine measures over the past year and a half have impacted everyone: individuals had to decrease social gatherings, limit visits with loved ones, and adjust to an overall lack of connectivity.

WORCESTER, Mass. — Throughout the pandemic, one of the challenges for the medical community has been finding ways to treat a new disease.

Hope is now emerging as some promising new drugs become available.

The number of cases of COVID-19 among vaccinated individuals went down last week along with overall infections, according to data released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The percentage of breakthrough cases also decreased from the previous week.

The Shrewsbury (Mass.) Surgery Center performed its first outpatient spine procedure, the center said Oct. 25. 

UMass Memorial Health neurological surgeon Arno Sungarian, MD, performed the outpatient discectomy, which took less than one hour. 

Millions of people still can’t get a COVID-19 vaccination booster, remaining ineligible because they fall outside the new guidelines approved by federal regulators. But experts say if you find yourself in that position, don’t worry too much about getting that extra shot.

BOSTON — Late October and it’s still 70+ degrees in central Massachusetts. At Worcester’s Elm Park, it was a scene out of the ‘Before Times.’ Residents fed ducks, pushed strollers and relaxed on benches. What they didn’t do was don masks.

But across the street at the Price Chopper, the continuing reality. With Worcester entering the second month of an indoor mask mandate, shoppers had no choice but to cover mouths and noses.

With people younger than 12 possibly becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health has started ordering doses.

The system ordered 1,500 doses on Wednesday for the medical center, officials said, 1,200 of which will go to the university campus and the other 300 to the memorial campus. Community sites do not plan to order at this time, according to officials.

October 21, 2021 - Hospitals and health systems continue to face an overwhelming amount of cyberattacks, spoofing and phishing incidents, and breaches resulting from unauthorized email access.