Vaccine Access Expanded In Metro North Area | Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Tuesday, May 4. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Restaurants in the Bay State saw a 21 percent decline in revenue for the first quarter ended March 31 when compared to the three months ended Dec. 31.
• Salem Hospital had to retract Monday's report that the hospital had no COVID-19 patients for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The hospital was, in fact, treating eight COVID-19 patients when it made its initial announcement.
• The weather is not looking like it will cooperate for tonight's peak of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is the last meteor shower we will see in Massachusetts until July.

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

Today's Top Story

The Metro North COVID-19 Vaccination Partnership, a consortium of nine communities, the Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts University, announced Tuesday that it is opening three joint vaccine clinics and planning mobile and pop-up vaccination efforts to reach underserved populations.

The regional partnership, which includes Arlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Revere, Somerville and Winthrop, was approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as a part of its statewide network of vaccination locations.

"These communities have been on the front lines of the pandemic since it first hit our region in early 2020, and are in dire need of a regional solution to increasing the rates of vaccination and building vaccine confidence," Mark Fine, director of Municipal Collaboration at the MAPC, said in a statement. "By banding together to get doses closer to where residents live and work, we can increase the pace of vaccinations and ensure folks have access to this critical public health resource regardless of immigration status, car ownership, English fluency, work hours, or access to health insurance."

Read the full story.

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Tuesday's Other Top Stories

Eight is great, but... Salem Hospital had to retract Monday's report that the hospital had no COVID-19 patients for the first time since the start of the pandemic. "In fact, we have eight patients today," the hospital said in a statement blaming the error on a computer glitch. "A number to celebrate, but not the same as zero." Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, who had celebrated the report earlier in the day, offered a light-hearted apology on Twitter.

A large pepperoni with a side of warm and fuzzy mittens? The former owner of Rasta Pasta Pizzeria in Beverly is facing federal fraud charges after the U.S. Attorney's Office accused Dana McIntyre of using $660,000 in Paycheck Protection Program funds for personal purposes, including to buy alpaca for a farm in Vermont.

Learn more about getting a COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts at Patch's information hub.

Picture This

Meteor shower peaking: The weather is not looking like it will cooperate for tonight's peak of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is the last meteor shower we will see in Massachusetts until July. Skies are going to be cloudy overnight when the shower is expected to produce 10-20 shooting starss per hour. The good news is the shower lasts through May 28, and clearer skies are in the forecast for Thursday night. (Photo: Graeme Whipps/Shutterstock)

They Said It

"What you're seeing is the hibernation effect. We've always said we thought that by the end of April we'd reach the other side."

• Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. Restaurants in the Bay State saw a 21 percent decline in revenue for the first quarter ended March 31 when compared to the three months ended Dec. 31. The industry is hoping the worst of the pandemic is over.

In Case You Missed It

State closing mass vaccination sites: Massachusetts is closing four of the state's seven mass vaccination sites by June, including sites in Danvers, Foxborough, Natick and at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Gov. Charlie Baker said Massachusetts is outpacing the rest of the country by "leaps and bounds" in COVID-19 vaccinations and will hit its goal of vaccinating 4.1 million people within weeks. About 1.2 million of those doses have been administered at the mass vaccination sites.