High-Risk COVID List Dwindles In New Town-By-Town Stats: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS— It's Thursday, February 10. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• The number of communities designated high risk for the coronavirus continued to fall dramatically in Thursday's town-by-town state data report, as positive test rates fell in more than three-quarters of cities and towns.
• Gov. Charlie Baker is making it clear: "If you don't have an appointment, you're not getting a vaccine."
• They've got some questions for the Wilmington dad who capitalized on the GameStop stock craze.

Scroll down for those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Monday’s Top Story

The Massachusetts Department of Health designated 110 cities and towns as high risk for the coronavirus in the latest community-level report Thursday, down 43 from last week. Positive test rates fell in more than three-quarters of cities and towns.

The seven-day average positive test rate for the state fell to 2.65 percent, the lowest level since early Nov. Statewide case counts, hospitalizations and deaths also all fell over the past week.

Gov. Charlie Baker said as of Thursday that the state will have distributed more than 1 million vaccination shots during the past two months of the rollout.

There were 2,213 new confirmed cases and 61 deaths Thursday across the commonwealth.

The seven-day average of hospitalized patients was 1,419, down from 1,698 a week prior. There were 304 patients in intensive care.

Today’s Other Top Stories In Massachusetts

No appointment, no shot: State residents without a coronavirus vaccination appointment should not converge on sites in hopes of securing an excess dose at the end of the day. That was Gov. Charlie Baker's message on Thursday after hundreds of people showed up at the Danvers DoubleTree mass vaccination site on Wednesday upon fast-spreading reports there were up to 300 extra doses that would be discarded if not used. Although some were able to get the impromptu shot – despite most not being eligible under the state's vaccination rollout – Baker said that scene should not be repeated.

Healey clears Rollins: Attorney General Maura Healey's office found no civil rights violations or violations of criminal statutes in an incident involving Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins. Dorchester resident Katie Lawson filed a complaint with the Boston Police Department, alleging Rollins flashed her blue lights and threatened her with a ticket when Lawson tried to merge in front of her at the South Bay shopping center on Christmas Eve. Healey's office began reviewing the complaint last month and referred it to the State Ethics Commission Thursday.

He's going with guilty: Former State Rep. David Nangle is expected to change his plea to guilty a year after he was arrested and charged with using campaign funds to support his gambling habit and pay for personal expenses — from golf club dues and rental cars to flowers for his girlfriend — according to the Boston Globe. Nangle, who represented Lowell and Chelmsford on Beacon Hill, sat on the House Ethics Committee before he was arrested and indicted on 28 charges, including 10 counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, nine counts of making false statements to a bank and five counts of filing false tax returns last February. He originally pleaded not guilty.

Cheat codes?: Wilmington's Keith Gill, one of the highest-profile cheerleaders and beneficiaries of the recent Gamestop stock craze, is being asked to testify by a Massachusetts security regulator, the regulator confirmed Thursday. Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin sent Gill a subpoena Monday, asking him to appear on Feb. 26 to answer questions about his trading activities, as first reported by the Boston Globe. The secretary of the commonwealth's Securities Division had previously sent questions to MassMutual, where Gill was employed until Jan. 28, at the height of the stock's popularity.

By The Numbers

0: That's how many of the young outfield stars remain from Boston's 2018 World Series championship team after the Red Sox traded Andrew Benintendi late Wednesday night.

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