For Immediate Release: 10/22/2021 12:32 pm
The City of Worcester held a Press Briefing Friday, Oct. 22 at City Hall and released the following information:
Last year, on Oct. 22, the City honored 296 lives of Worcester residents that had been lost to the COVID-19 virus with a heart-shaped display of red roses outside City Hall. Today, on that anniversary, a similar display was erected, this time with 453 roses to include the 157 Worcester residents who have died of COVID-related reasons since then. Those individuals were recognized with white roses,
To date, there have been 27,954 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the City of Worcester., an increase of 277 over last week's total of 27,677.
After 10 consecutive weeks of week-over-week increases in the number of new positive cases, the City has seen five straight week-over-week decrease
The seven-day average is 41.7. At the City's last press briefing, that number was 78 per day.
Positive case counts in surrounding towns: Shrewsbury: 3,518 (+46 from last week); Grafton: 1,421 (+24 from last week).
All combined medical facilities of Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care had 71 total COVID-positive in-patients (-1 from last week) and 20 total COVID-positive ICU patients (+2 from last week). To date, their facilities have had a total of 824 COVID-related deaths (+19 from last week).
As announced previously by City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr., effective Nov. 1requiring all City of Worcester employees will be required to be fully vaccinated, or to submit proof of a negative test result every week.
Fifty-four percent of the total population of Worcester is fully vaccinated, while 61.9 percent have received at least their first dose.
A total of 20,054 doses have been administered through the City’s Mobile Vaccination Clinics to 12,422 individuals. That includes 9,276 first doses, 7,438 second doses, 194 third doses and 3,146 single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Ninety doses were administered this week.
You can visit worcesterma.gov for a list of upcoming clinics.
Booster shots are available at City clinics and at many local pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens. One of the most convenient ways in Worcester to get your booster is at the Main Branch of the Worcester Public Library, where there are clinics every Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The City will also offerbooster clinics at the Worcester Center over the next couple months: One is on Oct. 29, just for seniors. We’ll have four more: Nov. 5, Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 17. Those will be open to all eligible individuals. Appointments are limited and can be reserved by visiting www.worcesterma.gov/coronavirus/vaccination.
Eligibility requirements and more information about boosters and vaccinations can be found at www.mass.gov.
The City on Monday, Oct. 25 will announce the latest winners in its Youth Vax Giveaway. That announcement will be accompanied by the launch of the Worcester #PostVaxLife Youth Vaccine Ambassador" video campaign aimed at encouraging younger people to get vaccinated.
