Live free and test free?
New Hampshire Gov, Chris Sununu announced Monday that all residents in his state can order free, rapid COVID-19 test kits that can be self-administered at home.
Similar mostly free programs have been available for months in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
But not in Massachusetts, or in most other US states.
The problem seems to stem in part from the fact that the F.D.A. still uses the same cumbersome process for approving COVID tests that it uses for high-tech medical devices and has been slow to approve the tests, writes David Leonhardt at the New York Times.
And how is New Hampshire able to offer to mail free test kits to every resident but we can’t?
Turns out, they maybe can’t.
Less than 24 hours, after Sununu launched his free tests kits program, the state's supply was completely exhausted, reports WMUR.
Norwood groundbreaking is good for Needham too
A devastating flash flood at the height of the pandemic created a crisis at Norwood Hospital in June of 2020.
The floodwaters forced the closure of the 215-bed hospital, putting immense pressure on area health care facilities -- including at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham which continues struggling to absorb a great deal of Norwood’s capacity demands at a time when all our hospitals have been overtaxed.
Yesterday, Steward Health Care, the hospital's owner, celebrated the groundbreaking of a new Norwood Hospital, set to open in 2024, Mike Deehan at GBH reports.
Langer launches yet another business
Another Robert Langer enterprise has just launched. Teal Bio, founded by the renowned MIT professor and Newton resident, has raised $2.45 million in Series A funding for a reusable filtration mask, reports the BBJ.
If you missed the chamber’s conversation earlier this month with Langer you can still watch it here.
Busy and only want to know where Langer likes to eat in Newton Centre? That's here.
Baker not buying Biden’s vax or test mandate
Gov. Charlie Baker’s office felt the need to clarify yesterday that while Baker supports creating a scannable QR code that could provide proof of a COVID vaccine, he doesn’t support vax mandates for businesses or customers, writes Shira Schoenberg at CommonWealth.
Baker has required all executive branch employees to show proof of vaccination and mandated vaccination for some categories of health care workers, like nursing home employees.
But he's opposed a statewide vaccine mandate, instead leaving the decisions to local employers, including presumably President Joe Biden’s vax-or-test rules for employers with 100-plus workers.
Biden’s rule was scheduled to kick in Jan. 5. There was also a Dec. 5 deadline when unvaxxed workers would be required to mask up on the job.
Both deadlines have been held up in court.
And just yesterday, a federal judge blocked federal vaccine mandates for federal contractors and health workers that was supposed to begin next week.
Tatte continues its west suburban expansion
Last month’s opening of Tatte Bakery & Cafe at the former Panera site in Newton Centre is already a hit (see the Bob Langer item above).
Now comes word of yet another location opening at Linden Square in Wellesley, with a planned $1 million renovation (that's a lot of subway tile) at the site where California Pizza Kitchen now resides, according to the Swellesley Report.
Swellesley also reports that a smoke shop is looking to move into a 9 Washington St., in Lower Falls, last occupied by convenience store Village Market and that the planned opening of Wolfers Lighting on Central Street has been pushed its projection out to late January due to supply chain issues.
BTW, you don't have to wait for this newsletter to get all the Swellesley News: Just subscribe to this chamber member's nightly newsletter here.
Other need to knows:
- The Newton City Council will caucus tonight (Weds.) at 7 p.m. to elect its president and VP for the upcoming term. This matters a lot because the president picks the committee chairs for the deeply-divided council. Watch here or in person.
- Some chamber members will remember an interesting event we hosted several years back featuring economist Anirban Basu, of Sage Policy Group, Inc. Next Thursday (Dec. 9) at 11 a.m. Basu will talk virtually about pre-pandemic and pandemic world and the current economic market on Thursday, Dec. 9. It’s presented by Grassi. Register.
- Here’s an easy way to help a great nonprofit. Take and post your photo standing next to these giant gift boxes at the Street. Tag @shopthestreet and for every photo taken they’ll donate $1 to Newton-based Family Access, which provides programs to nurture child development and support working parents within local racially, economically, and culturally diverse communities.
- Wellesley has received a $5,000 grant from the Community Fund for Wellesley’s Al Robinson Fund for the Arts to continue beautifying utility boxes at local intersections.
Give the gift of art
Newton’s New Art Centre has opened a delightful cooperative artists shop at Trio in Newtonville.
The New Art Shop builds upon the organization’s mission and vision by creating an accessible platform for artists to share and sell their work.
Work featured ranges from handmade jewelry to paintings and wearable textiles to sculptures. Details here.
SBA dollars helped many, but this hurts
Many businesses operating today owe their continued existence to federal pandemic relief over the past two years.
But a just-released audit also found that billions of dollars was fraudulently awarded by the SBA as the Trump administration rushed to get money out the door.
Nearly $3.7 billion went to recipients prohibited from receiving federal funds, including to self-employed individuals who made “flawed or illogical” claims of having additional workers on their payroll, according to the New York Times.
And 117,135 applicants got grants and 75,180 recipients got loans despite matches in the system indicating a “high likelihood” recipients were deceased, convicted of tax fraud, or barred from receiving federal contracts, among other red flags.
Stuff like this fuels our cynicism in government. But, really, lots of honest folks got money too and it kept their businesses and nonprofits alive and workers on payrolls.
That's today's Need to Knows unless you need to know how a wrong number resulted in a prep school basketball team getting a Facetime call with Tom Brady, Gronk and the rest of 2021's Super Bowl Champs.
See you Friday.
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
Charles River Regional Chamber
617.244.1688
Enjoy this newsletter but you're not a member? Please join the chamber |
|
