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Union construction workers are answering the call for more hospital beds, converting the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center into a 1,000 bed field hospital in just 3 days.  With the state's health care system facing a shortfall of thousands of beds, members from Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 worked around the clock to adapt the convention center's air system for the enormous temporary hospital.  Currently, there are over 40 patients (sixteen homeless) occupying the facility. Local 17 members working at J.C. Cannistraro had just days to complete the project before patients arrived. They jumped into action, adding filtration, modifying the rooftop ventilation units, and preparing isolation rooms to keep everyone safe. "Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 went above and beyond what’s expected of them," said [...]

Brianne Fitzgerald RN, NP So starts the Queen's speech to the citizens of Great Britain yesterday.  As we enter what is expected to be the most challenging phase of our collective Covid-19 experience, I beg all of us to follow both Mayor Walsh and Governor Baker's directives.  Specific to what Boston Mayor Walsh said on Sunday that there are real and manageable recommendations to follow. We do not live in a dictatorship.  We are expected to use common sense and follow the guidelines laid out by our leaders voluntarily.  These guidelines are more than reasonable and by following them you will do your part, perhaps save a life or flatten the curve.  In case you still need a few more deadening statistics to move you [...]

By: Tara Kerrigan Hayes The surge is coming. The word is out. So, why then, are the people? The stats are everywhere and the outlook is grim. Despite the US death toll eclipsing China’s and continuing to rise at a staggering rate, it seems, for some, the severity of the situation is simply not sinking in. New York infectious disease epidemiologist, John Smith, succinctly conveyed how an outbreak like the Coronavirus spreads exponentially, “if your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with”. Consider the power behind that fact, (and it is, indeed, a fact). Conversely, any break in that chain [...]