North Shore Native Helping Most At Risk Get Vaccinated: Patch PM

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — It's Monday, April 5. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• A Swampscott native who lives in Somerville has organized more than 500
  volunteers to help people navigate the state's vaccination registration system.
• Salem fire responds to a hazmat situation on Congress Street.
• Massachusetts has more reported cases of the new P.1 variant of COVID-19 than any other state in the country.
• The state will be unable to inspect vehicles until at least Wednesday, marking what would be a full week of no vehicle inspections as the Registry of Motor Vehicles' vendor tries to recover from a malware attack.

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

Today's Top North Shore Story

A Swampscott native who lives in Somerville has organized more than 500 volunteers to help people navigate the state's vaccination registration system.

What began as savvy navigation of the state's web-based appointment system to get the Diana Rastegayeva's family and relatives of friends vaccinations when those 75 years old or older became eligible in early February has grown to a network that has helped more than 13,000 state residents get shots through Massachusetts COVID Vaccination Help.

"There are systemic barriers that are blocking out a lot of people," she told Patch. "Where COVID is in the community most it's been a really bad story. These are the BIPOC populations. They are not being vaccinated at the same rate as white people.

"It's not a story of hesitancy. It's a story of access."

Read the full story here.

Today's Top Story Statewide

Massachusetts has more reported cases of the new P.1 variant of COVID-19 than any other state in the country, and researchers said over the weekend most of those cases stem from a cluster on Cape Cod.

A report from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard found 54 such cases in Massachusetts, and said 43 of them stem from the Cape cluster. The variant, which originated in Brazil spreads faster, but researchers still don't know if it is deadlier or if it can reinfect people who have already had the virus.

Read the full story.

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Monday's Other Top Stories

They found a way to make the RMV even more infuriating: The state will be unable to inspect vehicles until at least Wednesday, marking what would be a full week of no vehicle inspections as the Registry of Motor Vehicles' vendor tries to recover from a malware attack. "The RMV continues to urge its vendor, Applus Technologies, to provide a timeline to resolution and confirmation of the extent of this nationwide system outage impacting citizens in need of a vehicle inspection, and the small businesses who run inspection stations in MA," the RMV said Monday morning.

Not that the MBTA is doing much better: The MBTA switched to its new schedule Monday, and the griping commenced. Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller whipped off a letter to the MBTA saying cuts on the Worcester line leave "serious holes" in service, while commuters vented on social media about cuts on other routes. The MBTA, however, backed off of its original plan to cut late-night service.

Salem fire crews respond to reports of smoking lithium battery at office park: At about noon, Salem Union Local 172 reported a call for a "potentially explosive" hazmat situation because of a lithium battery on Congress Street. The "smoking equipment" call came from Shetland Office Park at 27 Congress Street.

55+ eligible for vaccine: About 1 million more residents became eligible for the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday as the state rounds out Phase Two of the prioritization plan. In two weeks every Massachusetts resident older than 16 will be eligible for a vaccine.

For information on getting a coronavirus vaccine in Massachusetts, visit Patch's information hub.

By The Numbers

$2 million: The damage estimate for a four-alarm fire in Somerville that damaged adjacent homes and left six people without a place to stay.