Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Tufts Medical Center is celebrating a positive pandemic milestone.
For the first time since March 21, 2020, Tufts Medical Center has zero covid inpatients. The hospital announced the milestone Tuesday morning, saying that the hospital officially had no more COVID inpatients as of 6:45 a.m. Tufts Medical Center President Diana Richardson said people throughout the system were excited to hear they had hit this milestone.
"I can tell you there were a lot of celebratory comments, texts, and emails first thing this morning when we saw that we finally reached that zero number," Richardson said.
The fight against COVID is still not over—Massachusetts reported 1,034 new cases of the virus and 56 people are in the hospital with the virus specifically as of the latest report from the Department of Public Health. However, Richardson said this moment gives employees a second to pause and think about all they have been through over the last three years.
"I think what it gives us a chance to do is really reflect on how much has changed over the last three years," She said. "I think it's nice for the care teams to have a moment to pause and just say 'wow' [and think] about all the numbers of patients we've cared for and the changes we've seen."
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Tufts Medical Center did not have any COVID patients on March 21, 2020, but a month later, the state public health department reported there were nearly 4,000 people hospitalized with the virus across the state, which was close to the highest number seen since the start of the pandemic. In the last month, hospitalizations peaked at 321.
Richardson said the overall decline in COVID patients at local hospitals comes down to new developments in fighting the virus.
"Because of the vaccines and the treatments we have, now [COVID is] a much less severe disease for most people," Richardson said.
The state COVID emergency will end on May 11.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasNews) reports.
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