COVID-19

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A Cautious Restart

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House Speaker Robert DeLeo has laid out a to-do list for the state Legislature including bills related to transportation revenue, a review of the state’s budget, and a plan to boost the struggling restaurant sector, among other topics.

But, working out a new budget plan is going to be tricky. According to a report in the Boston Globe:

“Last week, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimated that state tax revenues will fall by $6 billion, or nearly 20 percent, in the next fiscal year, from the revenue outlook that state leaders established in January. DeLeo conceded that the Legislature will likely tap into the state’s $3.5 billion rainy day fund, but he doesn’t want to draw down too much and put the state’s credit ratings at risk.”

New additions to the budget are expected to include a $2 million fund for restaurant recovery. 

Lawmakers have also been targeting an upgrade to telemedicine legislation to ensure “extensive insurance coverage for ‘virtual’ doctor visits, similar to what’s available for in-person visits” as a result of telemedicine becoming an integral part of the post-COVID-19 world. 

Read more on these stories here: DeLeo plans to prioritize transportation, budget, small business

Boston Roads Making Room for Walkways, Bike Lanes & Buses

Boston transportation officials are discussing the possibility of converting some of the real estate on the state’s roadways into bike and bus lanes and walkways.

The city is considering four approaches to extend sidewalks into streets, according to Jacob Wessel, Boston’s public realm director.

These measures are an attempt to facilitate ongoing social distancing.

Read all about it here: Boston eyes turning roads into walkways, bus and bike lanes during coronavirus crisis

Boston Researchers Onto Potential Coronavirus Vaccine

Researchers at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are working on two promising coronavirus vaccine candidates which have both provided immunity to laboratory monkeys. 

A working vaccine is widely seen as necessary for life to return to something resembling what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic

According to the report by NBC Boston:

“In one study, researchers infected 35 adult rhesus macaque monkeys with the new coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2. Twenty-five of them had been given potential vaccines, according to a news release from the hospital, and that group showed much lower levels of the virus than the 10 monkeys that weren't vaccinated. In fact, the virus couldn't be detected at all in eight of the vaccinated monkeys.”

The monkeys in the study showed evidence of having developed "natural protective immunity" against COVID-19 when infected a second time.

Oregon Health & Science University vaccine researcher Dr. Louis Picker told The Boston Globe that the two studies “convinced me that this is an infection that will be controllable with vaccination.”

The complete news report can be found here: Boston Researchers Find That Vaccines Protect Against Coronavirus, at Least in Monkeys

Some Businesses Scheduled for Reopening

Gov. Charlie Baker has provided some details of his four-phase plan to reopen Massachusetts. The governor’s office released a report breaking down schedules and rules for reopening. 

“Phase 1” includes construction and places of worship. Later phases will include bars, movie theaters, and casinos. 

According to the report rules will include mandatory workplace safety standards. Currently open businesses providing essential services have until May 25 to comply with the new standards.

No dates have been assigned for the launch of phases 2, 3, or 4. There will be “at least three weeks” between phases. Nonessential offices in Boston will remain closed until a week after the rest of the businesses in the state.

Here is the list of when businesses are allowed to reopen in Massachusetts.

Boston’s Governor Marty Walsh has made it clear that he is not comfortable with the plan’s 25 percent capacity limit. 

According to a report at Boston.com, Walsh said he is “personally not comfortable with the 25 percent number, to be quite honest with you. And we’re looking at it now,” adding, “25 percent, the first day, is too much.” 

Walsh also expressed concern that the number of residents returning to work could overtax the city’s emergency child care centers.

Gov. Walsh says that the pandemic could last 8 months to a year. 

Recreational Cannabis Restarting with Curbside Pickup

After being closed for two months, Mass. Recreational marijuana shops will be permitted to reopen Monday, May 25. However customers will not be allowed inside. 

Under the rules, all shops that opt to reopen must offer curbside pickup. for curbside pickup. For how long, we don’t know.

According to a report in the Boston Globe, “busy streets and limited parking options have forced company owners to find unique solutions to curbside pickup, creating at-the-door and order-ahead procedures to make the reopening process run smoothly.”

Read the report here: Here’s what curbside recreational marijuana sales will look like at Boston-area pot shops

More of the Latest Massachusetts News

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Silver Lining Begins to Appear for Mass Residents

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Yes, coronavirus still dominates the news in Massachusetts and across the globe. You’re probably already aware that there are now more than 80,000 cases of COVID-19 in the Bay State and more than 5,000 deaths according to health officials. And the most recent models predict total deaths in Mass. due to COVID-19 to increase by 50 percent over the next four weeks approaching 8,000 by mid June.

Meanwhile, closures in the state have resulted in more than 1 million unemployment claims in Mass. since March 15. That’s more than one quarter of the state’s entire labor force.

Some good news is starting to percolate up, however. 

First, Governor Charlie Baker has announced plans to significantly increase testing for coronavirus in Mass. We’re not talking about incremental increases. The governor claims that the proposed plans will increase testing in Mass. to the highest per capita testing rate in the world with upwards of 45,000 tests per day by the end of July and 75,000 per day by the end of December.

Currently, the state has the capacity to test around 35,000 residents per day. And as of the middle of this past week, more than 400,000 people have been tested for the virus.

Moreover, Gov. Baker outlined a four-phase reopening plan for the state. The plan calls for a gradual reopening of the economy beginning as early as May 18.

And there’s more good news. 

According to a report in the Boston Globe, deaths and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 may be trending downward in Massachusetts.

Businesses Express “Guarded Optimism”

The Globe also reports that polls conducted by two business groups in the state are showing “guarded optimism.”  

“No one expects the boom times we enjoyed as recently as a few months ago to return anytime soon,” writes the report’s author. “And few business leaders seem eager to rush their employees back to the office, either, even if Governor Charlie Baker gives the green light on Monday. But most are planning for stable or growing employment, not more job cuts, if these poll results are to be believed.”

The reporter made a point of mentioning that only a small number of respondents come from the retail and hospitality sectors, “two of the hardest hit by the pandemic.”

More than half of the respondents said they are currently operating. And 51 percent of companies that laid off or furloughed employees say they plan to bring all of those employees back.

Source: U.S. Labor Department, Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (Callum Borchers/WBUR)

Residents Experiencing “Quarantine Fatigue”

Travel is also on the rise and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack attributes the rise in miles traveled by car to a new form of cabin fever.  

"There is a phenomenon that has been dubbed 'quarantine fatigue' in which people are sort of getting tired of being home. This may indicate that we are seeing some quarantine fatigue because we are seeing an uptick in travel even though we have not begun to open the Massachusetts economy."

Travel is still down 50 to 70 percent in Massachusetts according to MassDOT data, says Pollack. 

Maine Regulators Approve Energy Pipeline

Maine regulators have approved a $1 billion utility transmission project that will facilitate the flow of 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower into the New England power grid. We’ve written about this project in previous reports.

Although most of the 145-mile (233-kilometer) power line will follow existing utility corridors, the state will need to clear a 50-mile swath of wilderness owned by Central Maine Power in western Maine.

According to the report, under the proposed plan, “the Department of Environmental Protection’s permit requires Central Maine Power to take measures to mitigate the visual and wildlife impact, and to permanently conserve 40,000 acres to offset the environmental impacts,” adding that the permit also requires “nearly $1.9 million for culvert replacement projects, the conservation of 700 acres of deer wintering habitat, and a prohibition on herbicides.”

Supporters of the project say it will “reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lower carbon emissions and stabilize electricity costs across the region — at no cost to Mainers.”

Critics, however, say “the environmental benefits are overstated and the project would do irrevocable harm to a large swath of Maine wilderness.”

Mass. Inches Closer to Recreational Cannabis Delivery

As we’ve also been reporting for several weeks now, recreational marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts have been shuttered during coronavirus outbreak. However, state officials have announced that they will soon be permitting home delivery of recreational cannabis products in Mass.

According to a report in the Globe, the Cannabis Control Commission will make delivery license applications available starting May 28. 

Applications will be available to third-party delivery operations as well as “marijuana micro-businesses hoping to deliver their own product.” 

More of the Latest Massachusetts News

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High Unemployment and Infection Rates Showing Signs of Leveling Off

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Unemployment claims continue to rise in Massachusetts, but that trend is slowing. More than 55,000 new claims were filed for the week ending May 2, down from more than 70,000 the week prior. That is according to a report published Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

State health officials recently announced 132 new coronavirus-related deaths in Mass., bringing the death toll to 4,552. So far there have been more than 73,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state. 

Meanwhile, stay-at-home orders in Mass. have been extended to May 18, with all nonessential businesses to remain closed until then. Although hospitalizations have begun to plateau, the state “still hasn’t seen the declines needed to ease up on social distancing and other steps the state has taken,” Baker said at a press conference. “You need to see downward trends,” he said.

Nationwide, more than three million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the past week pushing the total up over 33.5 million. That’s one in five Americans newly unemployed. 

The explosion in unemployment comes less than 60 days since nationwide unemployment had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5%.

WCVB news has more on this story.

Cannabis Operations on the Verge of Reopening

Mass. seems to be on the verge of permitting the reopening of recreational cannabis shops in the state — as soon as Gov. Charlie Baker gets on board. 

Regulators in the state are confident this can be done safely by “employing curbside pickup, appointment-only shopping, and other similar measures adopted by retailers that have remained open,” according to a report in the Boston Globe.  

The Mass. Cannabis Commission says it will monitor dispensaries to enforce social distancing rules.

Massachusetts is the only state with a recreational marijuana market to have shuttered its dispensaries. This has led to an existential crisis for many license holders as cannabis concerns are ineligible for federal bailouts. However, the state is working on a potential coronavirus-relief program specifically for Mass. cannabis businesses.

According to ELEVATE Northeast executive director, Beth Waterfall, the creation of a Massachusetts PPP loan for cannabis businesses such as hers “would be a momentous step in the right direction to remedy the inequity that legal, tax-paying cannabis-related businesses like mine are facing during the COVID-19 crisis,” 

Mass Could Lead Clean Energy Revolution with Investment in Fusion R&D

A report by Commonwealth Magazine guest contributor Edward M Murphy, says it’s time for Massachusetts to step up its support of clean energy R&D — in particular, fusion energy — in the same manner as it has with the Mass. Life Sciences Initiative which infused $1.6 billion into biotech research in the state. 

Murphy writes: 

“In 2008, Massachusetts enacted a Life Sciences Initiative which offered to spend $1 billion in support of evolving biotechnology. That initiative helped the extraordinary growth of companies that have made Massachusetts a global leader in biotech and have enhanced the state’s economy. In 2018, the state renewed that commitment with an additional $623 million to help further accelerate life sciences. Many of those companies are now working to help solve the COVID-19 crisis.

“It is timely for Massachusetts government and business leadership to consider a similar initiative for the development of the clean, limitless, and inexpensive energy that fusion may produce. Success is not yet certain, but it is now probable and it can change the world”

Murphy, who recently retired as CEO and chairman of one of the country’s largest providers of services to people with disabilities, had worked in state government from 1979-1995 as the commissioner of the Department of Youth Services, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, and executive director of the Health and Educational Facilities Authority. 

According to Murphy, “Massachusetts has the educational institutions, research facilities, entrepreneurs, and talent pool to become the leader of fusion development and to concentrate significant aspects of the industry here.” 

“Success would reinforce the state’s historical role of innovative breakthroughs, create more jobs,” says Murphy, “and would help preserve US technological leadership in what will likely be the most impactful innovation of the 21st Century.”

Read, “Can Mass. launch the fusion revolution?,” at Commonwealth Magazine. 

More of the Latest Massachusetts News

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COVID-19 Devastating Massachusetts Economy

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This week’s Massachusetts news is again dominated by the great 2020 pandemic. While hospitalization rates remain high in Massachusetts, unemployment in the state has passed the 25 percent mark. In other news, the Clean Energy Center agrees to pay more than $20 M in a lawsuit, a UMASS professor is awarded a $1.4 M grant for wind turbine tech, and shuttered Mass. adult-use cannabis dispensaries are facing an existential threat. 

Unemployment Over 700,000

It’s been more than a month and a half since the state instituted social distancing measures in response to the coronavirus crisis. However, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Mass. continues to hover around the 4,800 mark, dropping only one percent in the past week. The official death toll in the state is now 3,562.

Meanwhile, another 70,700 unemployment claims were filed in the state in the past week — down from almost 81,000 the week prior. The total of unemployment claims in Mass. over the past six weeks was 722,171 as of Thursday, continuing an unprecedented trend not seen since the Great Depression.

According to WCVB News, that number includes claims filed through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program which provides benefits for self-employed workers and independent contractors.

Roughly 30.3 million US citizens have now filed for unemployment compensation in the six weeks.

Shutdown of Recreational Cannabis Shops Could Be ‘Catastrophic’ for Industry

With Gov. Charlie Baker’s executive order to shutter nonessential businesses soon to expire, recreational cannabis dispensaries in the state fear the possibility of an extension on the ban or severe limitations in how adult-use shops may operate.

According to Adam Fine, at cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg:

“[Massachusetts] is really an outlier in terms of how the governor has responded to COVID with respect to the cannabis industry. Unlike liquor stores and unlike a lot of other sectors, [adult-use cannabis companies] really were treated differently. …It’s about as catastrophic as you can get for their businesses. They were forced to shut down with very little notice in a highly regulated industry after they had already implemented social distancing.”

Fine, who spoke with Cannabis Business Times, also pointed out that an ongoing shutdown could adversely affect employee retention in an industry in which hiring and training costs can be high. 

Furthermore, federal lifelines being offered to small businesses do not apply to the cannabis industry which is still considered to be in violation of federal laws — especially the adult-use sector which is not covered under Cole Memo guidelines. 

UMASS Lowell Researcher Receives $1.4 M for Cutting-Edge Wind Turbine Monitoring System

A clean energy researcher at UMass Lowell has received a $1.4 million grant from the US Department of Energy to further develop his scheme to identify damage in wind turbines before they fail. 

Assistant professor of mechanical engineering Murat Inalpolat’s novel system “uses wireless microphones mounted inside blades, wireless speakers inside the turbine's cavity and a microphone placed near the structure to monitor the sounds emanating from inside of it,” Inalpolat told Eurekalert!, adding “Any changes in audio frequencies would signal blade damage.”

According to a study by Global Market Insights Inc., wind power is projected to surpass $170 billion over the next four years. And according to figures from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Global Wind Energy Council, there are 60,000 wind turbines in the US and more than 341,000 in operation globally. 

Clean Energy Center to Pay $2 Million in Lawsuit 

After shelling out $2.3 million to law firms to defend the organization, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has lost a high-profile suit and now must pay a $20.8 million settlement. 

Already on shaky financial ground, the Center, which has been charged with growing the state’s clean energy economy, has been overspending its allotment of Revenue Trust Fund funds by millions of dollars each year. The fund was established in 1998 as part of the deregulation of the electric utility industry. 

According to a report in Commonwealth Magazine, the lawsuit “stemmed from work related to the 28-acre, $113 million New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, a staging site for offshore wind development that has yet to take off.” 

The Clean Energy Center was sued by two contractors on the project who alleged the agency “misrepresented the amount of work necessary to dredge the harbor to make way for the terminal.” According to the report, the Clean Energy Center claims the underestimate was the fault of the contractors.

After a trial that lasted several weeks, a verdict was entered in one day awarding the plaintiffs $21.3 million which includes a $20.8 million settlement reached in February plus the plaintiffs’ legal fees.

More of the Latest Massachusetts News

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Unemployment in Mass Continues Unprecedented Climb

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According to U.S. Department of Labor data, initial unemployment claims in Mass dropped from over 100,000 last week to just over 80,000 new claims this past week. The drop provides little to no comfort considering that joblessness in the state passed a staggering 650,000 over the course of just five weeks.

Restaurants, lodging, and retail, jobs have suffered the biggest losses due to the statewide shutdown of non-essential businesses. Along with cuts in health and social assistance jobs, these sectors account for more than 41% of all initial claims filed since the pandemic began.

According to a report, restaurants in the state have cut 93% of staff due to coronavirus pandemic with losses in statewide sales expected to exceed $1.3 billion in April alone.

Nationwide unemployment figures have lurched up by another 4 million last week bringing the total to 26 million in just five weeks — or about one in six American workers. Economists warn that unemployment could hit 20 percent (or about twice the rate experienced in the Great Depression) and that the nation’s domestic output could shrink by twice the amount experienced during the Great Recession of 2008.

By midweek last week, COVID-19 deaths in the state had passed the 2,500 mark with more than 46,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide. 

Could Clean Energy Jobs Lead the Recovery?

Last week, we reported that thousands of clean energy jobs had been lost to severe coronavirus prevention measures in Massachusetts. This week it’s being reported that clean energy could jobs could help reverse the massive loss of jobs when the state reopens. 

Clean energy advocates suggest investments in solar, offshore wind, and electric transportation could create an abundance of new jobs while improving public health and mitigating the detrimental effects of climate change in the state. 

“Those are the types of projects that we should really be investing in — ones that use the economic activity we need to generate to solve the next crisis.” — Craig Altemose, executive director of the Better Future Project

“On the back end of COVID-19, there are going to be a lot of people who need to be re-employed. What better way to do that than in ways that drive decarbonization and make us greener and more healthy?” — Elizabeth Henry, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. 

What Will Be The New Normal For Businesses?

During a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce virtual panel discussion this Thursday, a group of prominent CEOs in the Greater Boston area predicted that “the workplace for many companies may look very different when people finally return to work, after the pandemic’s devastating blow to the economy.” That is according to a report by the Herald. 

John Fish of Suffolk Construction said at the meeting that none of the CEO’s have experienced “anything like what we’re going through.” Fish said, “People now are confronted with the question of how do we get back to work.” 

Fish added that CEOs should do so with a “high degree of empathy and compassion … so people themselves own the re-entry.”

Fish also discussed the need for adequate protective gear and the use of monitors to ensure social distancing, and Niraj Shah of Wayfair says his company will be checking temperatures and undertaking thorough decontamination measures. 

How Quickly Can Massachusetts Recover?

Although Fish pointed out that, “Boston is usually the last one into a recession and the first one out,” a report by the Globe begs to differ saying that a fast recovery is unlikely in Massachusetts.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics has told the Globe, “Boston typically does weather recessions better than the rest of the country because it has industries that are less cyclical. In this particular case, probably not. … It’s going to be a slog.”

“Historically, recessions have been good for medicine overall. That’s just not the case with this one,” says Dr. Eric Dickson, chief executive of UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester.

The article goes on to state:

“A month into what may prove to be the most devastating economic collapse since the 1930s, the region’s world-famous hospitals and universities find themselves too crippled by COVID-19 to provide a soft landing. White-collar professionals, another bulwark of the state economy, are also bracing for the worst. With Europe and China also in trouble, Massachusetts won’t be getting much of a lift from exports or international travelers.

“The Great Recession, triggered by a mortgage meltdown and recklessness by banks and investment firms, required the government and Federal Reserve to put the financial system on life support. By contrast, the coronavirus pandemic in a matter of weeks has inflicted far more damage: an abrupt and intentional shutdown of a broad swath of the economy, 22 million people out of work, trillions of dollars in stock market losses.

“The country is in uncharted waters. But this much is clear: In Massachusetts, this downturn will be particularly painful and the recovery slower than usual, according to business leaders and economists.”

More of the Latest Massachusetts News

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Could Massachusetts See More Than 100,00 COVID-19 Cases?

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Massachusetts is the fifth U.S. state to report more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths. The number of patients hospitalized on April 15 with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose by 3,648, with 968 patients being admitted to intensive-care units. 

The state now has at least 29,918 confirmed cases. However, an MIT-associated study claims that there could actually be more than 100,000 coronavirus cases, suggesting that many more people potentially have the disease than have been confirmed.

“We estimate that up to 115,000 people are infected and shedding the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” according to the report.

Meanwhile, more than two dozen Massachusetts companies are working on the development of vaccines, treatments or devices for COVID-19. Boston Biz Journal has published a slide presentation related to this story.

Massachusetts town-by-town coronavirus data can be found here.

Massachusets is the First State to Undertake COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program

The New York Times reports that Massachusetts is the first in the nation to launch a coronavirus contact tracing program. The effort is intended to get unknowingly infected residents into quarantine to avoid infecting others.

More than $40 million is being allocated to hiring 1,000 contract tracers to call Mass. residents who have been in contact with a COVID-19 patient. 

Gov. Charlie Baker is betting that the program will help to identify pockets of infection as they emerge. According to the Times report:

“Contact tracing has helped Asian countries like South Korea and Singapore contain the spread of the virus, but their systems rely on digital surveillance, using patients’ digital footprints to alert potential contacts, an intrusion that many Americans would not accept.”

“It’s not cheap,” Governor Baker, told the Times. “But the way I look at it, the single biggest challenge we’re going to have is giving people confidence and comfort that we know where the virus is.”

Half Million Jobs Lost in Massachusetts, Including Thousands of Clean Energy Jobs

Banker and Tradesman financial weekly reports that as of April 11 more than 500,000, a full 12 percent of Massachusetts residents — have become unemployed. However, new unemployment claims were down 36,607 from the previous week. That is according to the latest U.S. Department of Labor data.

Among the jobs lost in the past month were more than 1,000 clean energy jobs. That is according to an analysis by the American Council on Renewable Energy and Environmental Entrepreneurs. 

“The coronavirus pandemic essentially blew away a year’s worth of industry-wide gains in just a few weeks,” says the report in the Boston Business Journal. 

Workers who lost their jobs include engineers, solar installers, technicians, electricians, HVAC and mechanical trade technicians, and construction workers.

Nearly half a million clean energy jobs are at risk nationwide. 

Energy Network News has more details on this story.

Recreational Cannabis Sales: Judge’s Decision Favors Gov. Baker, but Former Gov. Weld Objects

A judge has ruled that Gov. Baker acted within his authority when he ordered recreational marijuana dispensaries to close amid the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Mass. recreational sales are still shut down.

The decision was a disappointment to the state’s recreational marijuana businesses as it “could serve as an effective death sentence for dozens of marijuana companies,” writes the Boston Globe. 

Many operators are laying off workers and “teetering on the brink of insolvency,” the report warns.

Gov. Baker’s reasoning for shutting recreational sales was that the move would prevent out-of-state customers who could be carrying COVID-19 from infecting Mass. residents. 

His ruling notwithstanding, the judge said that he believed dispensaries could be reopened safely. 

Former Governor Bill Weld has spoken out publicly against the move. In an opinion piece published Tuesday in Commonwealth magazine, Weld writes, “Only Massachusetts has imposed this economic death sentence on small and previously disadvantaged business owners."

As we reported last week, record numbers of residents are applying for medical marijuana cards as a result.

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More Bad News Still to Come

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In what seems like an eternity, the first coronavirus case in Massachusetts was reported just six weeks ago. In just the past week the number of confirmed cases has jumped from about 9,000 to nearly 19,000 with just over 500 deaths reported so far. And the state is just starting to reach its peak, according to experts.

Mass. hospitals are preparing for the expected surge of coronavirus cases between April 10 and April 20. As we reported last week, the convention center in South Boston is being converted into a temporary field hospital to help with an overflow of patients.

According to a story by the Boston Herald, “at least 140 of the state’s more than 1,000 long-term care facilities have now reported at least one case of COVID-19… and 1,236 residents and health care workers have been sickened.” And in Wilmington, AdviniaCare reports that 77 of the 91 residents have been battling the disease and seven have died.

Although lower this week than the week prior, new unemployment claims are approaching the half-million mark since mid-March. Economists warn that the Mass. unemployment rate could hit a staggering 25 percent by June — that’s 15 percent higher than Great Depression figures.

Channel 5 has compiled a collection of COVID-19 infographics with regional demographic data related to the epidemic. 

Four Hospitals to Begin Trials of Sanofi Drug to Fight COVID-19 

The Boston Globe reports that an unspecified number of patients admitted to four Massachusetts hospitals are receiving an FDA approved rheumatoid arthritis drug in an effort to determine its efficacy in treating acute respiratory distress. The drug, Kevzara, is thought to suppress the inflammatory response in patients’ lungs. 

Participating Mass. hospitals include Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. More than 50 hospitals nationwide and about 1,000 patients are taking part in the study. Preliminary results of the trial are expected by the end of April. 

Progress on Transportation & Climate Initiative Stymied by Pandemic Response 

The economic fallout caused by plunging gas prices and social distancing measures has added uncertainty to the fate of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI).

Discussions are continuing by email, phone and video conference despite the pandemic and a final memorandum of understanding between 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, originally expected to be unveiled before summer,  might now be pushed back to the fall. 

The TCI seeks to set a cap on emissions from cars, trucks and other vehicles and require fuel suppliers to buy allowances at auction for every ton of carbon dioxide their fuel will generate beyond that cap. 

An estimated $5 billion to $7 billion in annual proceeds would go back to the states for upgrading public transit, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other projects. 

The program was originally expected to launch in January 2022. 

Read more on this story at Energy News Network.

Massive Spike in Marijuana Patients Attributed to Shuttering of Recreational Pot Shops

Applications for Mass. medical marijuana cards have jumped substantially since the coronavirus outbreak began. WBUR reports that 1,300 new medical marijuana patients were registered in just over a week from March 23 and April 1. That’s 800 more new patients than were approved in the prior 10-day period. 

The sudden rise is attributed to the fact that the state has deemed recreational marijuana shops to be non-essential and subject to shut down during the crisis, whereas medical dispensaries have been allowed to continue to do business. 

In order to apply for a medical marijuana card in Mass. patients must first be approved by a state-certified physician. Prior to the crisis, this step had to be done in person with a visit to the doctor’s office. 

However, in order to promote social distancing, the commission has temporarily permitted the use of telehealth services allowing patients and doctors to consult via phone or video conference.

A group of adult-use dispensary operators have initiated a lawsuit claiming that Governor Charlie Baker’s decision to close down recreational cannabis operations was illegal and might endanger public health by forcing consumers into the illicit market.

Cannabis Sales Projected to Pass $1 Billion by 2024

Boulder, Colorado-based BDS Analytics, a leading cannabis industry market research company, is predicting marijuana sales in Mass. will reach $1.35 billion in 2024. Sales are expected to exceed $745 million in 2020 with $157 million in sales being reported for the first quarter of 2020, according to data from the Cannabis Control Commission. Mass. Live has more on this story.

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