Health

Maine’s two largest health care groups, MaineHealth and Northern Light Health, are sounding an alarm, saying that their pediatric beds are nearing or at capacity because of RSV or respiratory syncytial virus. The illness can have a severe impact on younger children and toddlers. On Friday doctors at Northern Light Health and MaineHealth s...

If you’re not sleeping great, you’re not alone – Many Bay Staters aren’t getting enough sleep.  At 2 a.m. on Sunday, we’ll turn the clocks back an hour, as Daylight Saving Time ends. You may gain some sleep, but any disruption to your sleep patterns will involve a period of adjustment.   And while a good night’s sleep can leave...

Workforce shortages in behavioral health have left hundreds of patients in limbo, waiting in the emergency rooms of Massachusetts hospitals until they can receive treatment at behavioral health inpatient facilities. Children’s hospitals facing capacity challenges with a surge in respiratory illnesses are strained for space as dozens of young ...

Cases of RSV are on the rise in Massachusetts and across the country, and Boston Children’s Hospital is citing the illness as one reason it’s cutting back on its elective surgeries. It’s not just Boston Children’s Hospital that’s dealing with the strain, according to doctors from around the state and the Massachusetts ...

The immune-evading COVID-19 variants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are continuing to rise in New England, with their share of cases nearly doubling each of the past two weeks. BQ.1 and and BQ.1.1 now account for approximately 20% of all coronavirus cases in the region, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s...

Massachusetts health officials confirmed five new monkeypox cases in the last week. The state’s total now sits at 435. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health provides monkeypox updates on Thursdays. Cases have decreased since last week’s report. The rate of new cases has now declined in 10 of the last 11 weeks. The Centers for Di...

Massachusetts health officials confirmed seven new monkeypox cases in the last week. The state’s total now sits at 430. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health provides monkeypox updates on Thursdays. Cases have increased about 1.7% since last week’s report. The rate of new cases has now declined in nine of the last 10 weeks. The ...

Students attending classes at Harvard University early next year will be required to receive the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster. All students who will be on campus from January onward and who do not have religious or medical exemptions must have received the new booster, which targets the omicron variant and its subvariants. The announcement...

As Boston University refutes sensationalist reports that their researchers created a new, more “deadly” COVID strain, local doctors who have been tracking the course of the pandemic are saying that the study could reveal important information to combat the virus. The reports sparked controversy and some friction between the university a...