MA Woman Almost Didn't Survive COVID-19: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Tuesday, March 9. Do you remember what you were doing this time last year? It was just two days before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic. Here's what else you should know this afternoon:

• More summer camps plan to open this year in the latest sign this year will be different.
• A wind farm near Martha's Vineyard that could power 400,000 homes could happen.
• More than a dozen local groups have signed a letter asking Worcester to drop a bid to pay for a controversial software tool that purportedly helps police predict crime hot spots.

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

Today's Top Story

It's been a year since she first felt the symptoms of the coronavirus, and 11 months since she was wheeled home from the hospital in a chair, and Ann Langenfeld, 56, of Newton, is finally able to walk on her own.

"I'm also grateful to be able to eat food and drink water, I couldn't have water or food for six weeks," said Langenfeld, who contracted the coronavirus last year and was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital on March 15, 2020.

At one point it wasn't clear if she was going to live at all. When she woke up after being in a medically induced coma, nurses called it a miracle, she said. Here's her survival story.

Nearby News

• New Italian Restaurant Opens In Brothers Space In Brookline
• Boston-Based Health Tech Venture Capital Company Moves To Waltham
• John Oliver On Why He's Running City Council In Newton

Tuesday's Other Top Stories In Massachusetts

Police department pushback: More than a dozen local groups have signed a letter asking Worcester to drop a bid to pay for a controversial software tool that purportedly helps police predict crime hot spots. The 15 groups say research shows software like ShotSpotter Connect harms communities of color. Worcester police say the Connect tool would help deploy officers more efficiently, and Chief Steven Sargent described it as a crime forecasting tool in a memo to City Council. Worcester police signed an agreement to adopt it in December, before the issue was revealed to the public, documents obtained by Patch show.

Happy campers: There are going to be more happy campers this summer as more camps choose to reopen despite the pandemic, providing millions more kids an opportunity to gather around a campfire. Most camp directors sat out last summer as the virus raged across the country, either because of state restrictions like those in Massachusetts that barred them from opening or because of concerns about keeping kids healthy. But with cases declining and more people vaccinated each day, many are feeling more confident about reopening this season.

Swastika in school: Sharon police are conducting an investigation after a swastika was found etched on a bathroom stall at Sharon High School, said the police department in a news release. The hate symbol was reported by a high school student last week and police believe it was written sometime before 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 4.

By The Numbers

400,000: The number of homes that could be powered by a wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard that is close to getting federal approval. Vineyard Wind is significantly farther offshore than Cape Wind, a previous Massachusetts offshore wind project that famously failed amid opposition from the Kennedy family and businessman William Koch, among others, who considered it a bird-killing eyesore in their ocean views.

They Said It

"I can't understand why the MBTA has decided to ostracize the South Shore once again."

• Richard Prone, the MBTA Advisory Board member for Duxbury, on the agency's plan to extend weekend service cuts on the South Shore through spring and possibly longer.