University of Maryland Shoppers walk out of a Walmart store in Maryland May 4. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not cited the nation’s largest retailer despite employee complaints, illnesses and deaths at Walmart facilities across the country. The company says there is no proof that employees contracted COVID-19 at work.
Sandra Kunz had been worried for her safety while working as a cashier at a Walmart in Aurora, Colorado, during the pandemic, said her sister, Paula Spellman.
The 72-year-old had lung disease, Spellman said. She was “uncomfortable because so many people (were) coming in with coughs.”
But Kunz didn’t complain to the government agency tasked with protecting workers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Daily News Staff and News Services
It s the supply, stupid.
Those weren t the exact words Gov. Charlie Baker used Thursday, but as he got barraged with criticism from Democratic lawmakers, it was a defense he would return to again and again.
The new Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness s vaccine oversight hearing was must-see streaming on Beacon Hill, even with the governor trying to offer his own counter-programming.
The state s vaccine rollout, and more specifically its online appointment booking system, continues to be a source of consternation. While the system didn t crash, per se, the experience of fighting online with hundreds of thousands of people for one of the 50,000 new appointments left an anxious public unpacified.
A notice on the Massachusetts immunizations website on Wednesday. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
When Gov. Charlie Baker released vaccine eligibility to a million more Massachusetts residents last week, state websites crumpled under a virtual stampede of people rushing to secure appointments. Users were left in online
limbo for hours, and many gaped at how something so critical could be entrusted to, in their eyes, flimsy web services and fragile program designs.
“Foolish system. Ill-Designed. Who are the people that designed it?” seethed Steve Rosenfeld, 70, from Worcester in a written comment to WBUR after he failed to get an appointment.
The nonprofit Maryland Partnership for Prevention runs one
NATICK Mary Burke isn t pleased with the state s recent decision to limit the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in local communities.
Earlier this month, Burke, a retired nurse who lives in Natick, got her first dose of the Moderna vaccine at a local clinic run by the Natick Department of Public Health.
But starting Monday, the state is essentially cutting off many local communities from holding first-dose clinics. The reason is a lack of vaccine supply statewide. Any board of health that is willing and ready to participate, should be able to do it, Burke said.
A lot of upset people