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The City of Champions has another team to congratulate: the New England Free Jacks, who won their second consecutive major league rugby championship this weekend. They also earned props from a high-profile fan.
Now, let’s get to the news:
- Trend lines: Experts say this has been a pattern for the last three summers. “We’re seeing what we’ve seen in many of the summers previously, actually all of them except for the first summer, which is that cases have definitely increased,” Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director for the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told WBUR’s Dan Guzman. “On the plus side, the number of people hospitalized with severe COVID is nowhere near what we used to see.” Sax chalks up the waning severity of illness to widespread population immunity, which has been built up through vaccinations and years of enduring COVID.
- By the numbers: There have been a total of 7,280 confirmed cases of COVID and 36 confirmed COVID deaths in the state this respiratory illness season. Click here to see data from your city or town.
- What should you do? Sax says if you’ve got an important event coming up — like a wedding or a vacation — you might want to consider masking up in crowded public settings. He also suggests getting your COVID booster shot in the fall, which will be equipped to handle new variants of the virus.
Here’s some good news, Boston: The monthlong Sumner Tunnel closure is over. The tunnel — which is crucial to many commutes and for travel from Logan Airport — is open to traffic as of today. But there are still a few more weekend closures on the horizon, WBUR’s Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez reports.
- Work on the Sumner is around 90% complete, according to Gulliver. Contractors still need to paint roads within the tunnel, and wrap up some electrical and fire safety tasks. “Some of this work will continue to be done during the weekend closures that are coming up,” Gulliver told WBUR. Those closures are slated for the weekends of Aug. 9, Aug. 16 and Aug. 23, with more planned in September and October.
- How bad was this recent full-time closure? Traffic was “difficult but manageable,” said Massachusetts Department of Transportation Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. According to state data, folks traveling through Boston sat in an average of 20 minutes to an hour of additional traffic while taking detours around the tunnel.
The fallout from Steward: With the upcoming closure of Steward’s Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Massachusetts will lose 70 beds licensed for patients experiencing a mental health crisis, WBUR’s Martha Bebinger reports.
- According to Eliza Williamson, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 36 of the lost beds are meant for geriatric patients in need of psychiatric care. Older patients are difficult to place, Williamson told WBUR. “Even if there was a place for them to go, [it] would be deeply challenging but there really is nowhere for people to go. It’s really a crisis that keeps intensifying,” she added.
Check your flights: As of 7:40 a.m., over 40 flights to and from Logan Airport had been canceled, and more than 60 others were delayed. The disruption follows an airport jam this weekend caused by diverted planes avoiding bad weather in the New York area.
P.S.— Looking for a way to enjoy the sunshine and get around? Go for a bike ride! Bluebikes is offering free day passes every Monday in August in honor of National Wellness Month. Today, you can use the code BLUECROSS05 in the Bluebikes App to unlock a two-hour ride. Each Monday has a different code, so be sure to check back here.
