Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | January 24, 2022 | wbjournal.com Changing conditions "Preserving the health and safety of our campus community is our paramount concern, and we must continue to be vigilant and flexible as we respond to changing conditions." C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F V E R BAT I M EcoTarium chief "I am truly delighted and honored to lead the team at the EcoTarium to engage with the community and inspire a love of science and nature." Newly appointed president and CEO of the EcoTarium in Worcester, Noreen Johnson Smith, announcing her new position, replacing Lucy Hale Historic commitment "Unity Hall, one of the most significant buildings on the growing WPI campus, represents a historic commitment by this university to the future of purpose-driven STEM education and research and to meeting the needs of our students and the greater WPI community." Worcester Polytechnic Institute President Laurie Leshin, announcing the opening Unity Hall, a new 100,000-square-foot academic and student services building Fitchburg State University President Richard Lapidus, announcing the school would run the first two weeks of its spring semester remotely I n a public health advisory, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health clarified its recom- mendations related to who and when people infected with and/or exposed to COVID-19 should undergo testing. e update comes aer the U.S. Centers for Disease control halved its recommended quarantine time at the end of December. In the Jan. 11 advisory, DPH called attention to the distinction between PCR tests, historically the most com- monly-used COVID-19 test, and rapid antigen tests, the kind commonly found in at-home testing kits. DPH recommended using antigen tests for people who are symptomatic and for asymptomatic people in certain settings, such as those in schools and daycares. "PCR tests can also be used for these purposes but may indicate a positive result long aer someone has stopped being infectious," the advisory said. "As a result, PCR tests are not recom- mended for use when making decisions about returning to work or school or when making decisions about whether someone without known exposure or new symptoms should isolate." Someone with COVID-19-like symp- toms who tests negative on an antigen test should consider taking another test in the next 24-48 hours, or else getting a PCR test, DPH said. In the waiting period, they should assume they are positive and follow isolation guidance. In bolded typeface, DPH said em- ployers, schools, and daycares should not require PCR tests to return to those settings. Instead, they should use state guidelines for isolation or quarantine. Current guidance recommends, but does not require, people in quarantine to get a test (either antigen or PCR) on their fih day in quarantine, and exit if the test is negative. DPH advised antigen tests are highly accurate and do not need to be con- firmed with a PCR test. At the same time, the long-awaited digital COVID-19 vaccination card, sometimes referred to as a vaccine passport, has launched, according to an announcement from the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration. e technology uses the SMART Health Card platform developed by New York nonprofit Commons Project, and is called My Vax Records. It will al- low vaccinated residents to access their vaccine history and generate a digital vaccine card, including a scannable QR code to be used for verification, per the announcement. e tool is accessible at MyVaxRecords.Mass.Gov. Businesses and others looking to ver- ify a person's vaccine status will be able to use the SMART Health Card Verifier app to scan and verify digital cards, according to an informational page on the Mass.Gov website. When scanned, legitimate vaccine cards will show a green box, and the app screen will indicate the person's name, date of birth, dose manufacturer, and dose date. It will not, however, verify whether someone is fully vaccinated, only that the digital card is real. Vaccination data is pulled from the Massachusetts Immunization Informa- tion Systems, per the Jan. 10 announce- ment, which is the database used by healthcare providers around Massachu- setts to record vaccine information. State cautions against requiring PCR tests to return to work, launches vaccine passports BY MONICA BENEVIDES WBJ Senior Staff Writer W COVID vaccines have been available since late 2020. PHOTO/MATT WRIGHT

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