Despite the incredible progress being made in the fight against COVID-19, there are still communities in the red.In the Department of Public Health’s weekly report released Thursday, just two communities -- Lawrence and New Bedford -- were in the "Red," or at high risk of COVID-19, down from six communities last week.About 4.5% of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in Lawrence. That's down from more than 7% positivity a month ago, but not yet enough to get Lawrence out of the red.The city continues to lag behind the state as a whole in vaccination rates, one reason officials say is that many Lawrence residents have difficulty getting time off from work.“I know that for example at my job, we were trying to get one of these buses to show up at our job to do a vaccination day for all of us,” said Jordan Adames of Hampton, New Hampshire. “We only had two people sign up out of how many -- hundreds of employees?” The mayor says the numbers going in the right direction and predicts Lawrence will soon be out of the high-risk red zone. But he says he might have delay lifting the remaining COVID-19 restrictions when the state does so at the end of next week.“A decision has not been made yet, and we're looking at all the data that we have before us. And we're going to be looking over the next couple of days to see if there are any changes. But our hope and goal is that we could reopen. However, we are waiting to finalize this decision,” said Mayor Kendrys Vasquez.The mayor says another reason Lawrence lags behind in vaccination rates is that it is a young city with about 25 % of residents under the age of 19. Many of them only recently became eligible to get the vaccine.
Despite the incredible progress being made in the fight against COVID-19, there are still communities in the red.
In the Department of Public Health’s weekly report released Thursday, just two communities -- Lawrence and New Bedford -- were in the "Red," or at high risk of COVID-19, down from six communities last week.
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About 4.5% of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in Lawrence. That's down from more than 7% positivity a month ago, but not yet enough to get Lawrence out of the red.
The city continues to lag behind the state as a whole in vaccination rates, one reason officials say is that many Lawrence residents have difficulty getting time off from work.
“I know that for example at my job, we were trying to get one of these buses to show up at our job to do a vaccination day for all of us,” said Jordan Adames of Hampton, New Hampshire. “We only had two people sign up out of how many -- hundreds of employees?”
The mayor says the numbers going in the right direction and predicts Lawrence will soon be out of the high-risk red zone. But he says he might have delay lifting the remaining COVID-19 restrictions when the state does so at the end of next week.
“A decision has not been made yet, and we're looking at all the data that we have before us. And we're going to be looking over the next couple of days to see if there are any changes. But our hope and goal is that we could reopen. However, we are waiting to finalize this decision,” said Mayor Kendrys Vasquez.
The mayor says another reason Lawrence lags behind in vaccination rates is that it is a young city with about 25 % of residents under the age of 19. Many of them only recently became eligible to get the vaccine.
May 22, 2021 at 05:39AM
https://www.wcvb.com/article/why-are-2-mass-communities-still-in-red/36504236
Article Why are 2 Mass. communities still in red? Despite - WCVB Boston
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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