UK Coronavirus Variant Found In Middlesex County | Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Monday, March 29. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on higher education.
• The governor's race continues to take shape as a top Boston Democrat considers running.
• Coronavirus transmission remains low in Massachusetts schools, according to the state's pooled testing program.

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

Today's Top Story

A coronavirus variant thought to be more infectious has been found in Reading, school officials said. In a message to families Sunday, Superintendent John Doherty said the Reading Health Department was informed that UK COVID strain B.1.1.7 appeared in town.

"It is critically important that we all continue all of the COVID preventive measures (distancing and masking) so as to prevent these variants, or any other mutations, from taking hold and creating their own outbreaks," Doherty said.

It is believed that vaccines are effective against the B.1.1.7 strain. Two other variants present in Massachusetts – B.1.1.3.5 and P.1. – are not covered by a vaccine, Doherty added.

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Nearby News

Residents Displaced After Malden Parapet Collapse: Part of the parapet on the roof of a Salem Street building collapsed Saturday, damaging a nearby traffic light and forcing an evacuation.

Dark Horse Public House, Former On The Hill Tavern, Shutting Down: Dark Horse, which replaced the longtime Somerville watering hole four years ago, cited rising rent.

Medford Schools Plan High School Graduation, More Student Events: The district has tentatively scheduled an in-person graduation ceremony for June.

Top Stories

Will she run?: One former state senator is already running for governor on the Democratic side of the ticket, and now a current member of the Senate says she is "seriously considering" a campaign for the corner office next year when Gov. Charlie Baker's second term expires. Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, a Boston Democrat and the first Latinx woman to serve in the state Senate, said Monday that she is looking at the race for governor in 2022. Chang-Diaz was a key player in efforts to pass school funding reform in 2019, and helped negotiate a overhaul of policing oversight and accountability laws last year in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. (State House News Service)

Emails didn't come easy: It took Framingham almost three months and intervention by the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office to release three emails related to the resignation of the city's former health director — an ordeal that underscores how governments can use state law to withhold potentially damaging information. The emails released this week showed that Dr. Sam Wong, Mayor Yvonne Spicer and spokeswoman Kelly McFalls were discussing how to describe Wong's resignation. At the time, multiple reports said Wong had resigned and sent a resignation letter to state and local officials during the last week of December. But for weeks, McFalls asserted Wong was on medical leave and had not officially resigned.

Funds come in after tragedy: An online fundraiser for a Bedford mother killed during an alleged domestic violence incident on a popular Maine beach has surpassed $24,000. Rhonda Pattelena, 35, was killed Friday on Short Sands Beach in York, Maine. Jeffrey Buchannan, 33, also of Bedford, was arrested. Pattelena and Buchannan had a child together, police said. (CBS Boston)

A painful learning experience: State Sen. Barry Finegold, a Jewish former football player, met Saturday with the high school team that was using anti-Semitic play calls. The meeting occurred after it came out the Duxbury High football team was using Jewish and Holocaust-related terms for line-of-scrimmage audible play calls, an incident that cost the team's successful coach his job. "There is a term in Judaism known as t'shuvah (תשובה‎), which means 'return' or 'repentance,'" Finegold said. "I sincerely hope we will move forward, and move forward stronger than before. I believe that we can use the incident in Duxbury as a crucial learning opportunity."

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They Said It

"Not only were we expecting this complaint from BC, but also it is within their rights to make this claim and is not unusual in matters involving eminent domain takings."

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller talking about Boston College's civil lawsuit arguing the $15.2 million her city gave the school in exchange for the 17 acres of Webster Woods was not fair compensation.

By The Numbers

0.76 — That's the percentage of the 22,679 pooled tests from Massachusetts schools to come back positive under the state's program, which is being extended through the end of the school year.