Lincoln’s police, fire and emergency medical personnel will get their Covid-19 vaccinations starting this Friday at the end of this week as part of a three-day, six-town clinic, and patients in the skilled nursing facility at The Commons have gotten their first vaccines as well.
This marks the start of the three-tiered rollout of vaccines for Massachusetts residents. Under state Department of Health guidelines, emergency first responders and those in congregate care settings such as assisted living are first in line. The rest of the residents at The Commons are expected to get their vaccines in the first week of February, according to Public Health Nurse Tricia McGean.
Phase two will cover seniors, those with co-morbidities, teachers and other school personnel, those working in various public-facing areas such as supermarkets, mass transit and public health. Phase three will cover everyone else and is now expected to start in late February or March, McGean told the Board of Selectmen on January 12.
The town continues planning for a general clinic — once the first two tiers of residents have been vaccinated — to be held on an as-yet-undetermined date at the Lincoln North office building, and officials are recruiting residents to help with the effort. There will be the second of two Zoom meetings for those who are interested in helping out on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. (send an email to lincolnMRC@lincolntown.org for the Zoom link).
McGean emphasized, however, that the first place residents should call about getting vaccinated is their primary care provider. The state hopes that PCPs and pharmacies will be the primary source of vaccines, though exactly when vaccine doses will arrive is still unclear. The Council on Aging has a list of homebound residents who will be able to get vaccinations at home by a visiting nurse, McGean said. For the general clinic, there will be online signup through PrepMod, a system being used throughout the country for vaccine scheduling and recording that automatically generates an appointment for the second shot 28 days after the first.
Meanwhile, Covid-9 cases continue to climb in Lincoln and almost everywhere else. As of January 12, Lincoln had recorded a total of 128 residents who tested positive for the virus, and 16 of those have been since January 1, McGean said. Thirty-one of the 128 total cases — about half of them just since December — have been at The Commons.
“We expected this rise in cases after the holidays, with people traveling and getting together. Lincoln is not unique,” McGean said.
The virus is now spreading mainly among household members while schools have seen relatively few cases, perhaps because of their strict protocols on masks and social distancing. “The Lincoln School has been amazing,” even compared to other area towns, McGean said. “When they hear that a staff member, teacher or student tests positive, I am notified immediately and I’m on a Google Meet within minutes.” Since the start of the pandemic, the town has recorded only one case in the 0–10 age group.
Town officials are gearing up for a possible Covid-19 vaccination clinic and are seeking volunteers, though much is still unknown.
In the January 10 post headlined “
As a farmer, the image made me think how each and every day we have an endless amount of things to do, all sometimes pointing in different directions. The daily tasks on a farm are endless and it’s my job to make sense of the chaos and chart a clear path forward. The farms and businesses that find success tend to be the ones that are best able to stay pointed in one direction, stay true to their core principles, and be disciplined to achieve their goals.
Due to the recent rise of Covid-19 cases in Lincoln and statewide, town offices and the Lincoln Public Library are closed for in-person visits as of Monday, Jan. 11.