News

Beginning Thursday, July 1, the City of Cambridge will offer free COVID-19 testing one day per week on Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. inside the CambridgeSide Mall. No appointment is needed. Thursday testing at the CambridgeSide Mall will no longer be drive-through testing by motor vehicle but will become a walk-in testing site without appointments inside the CambridgeSide Mall on the 2nd Floor above the Food Court. The current drive-through testing in the garage will shut down.

The Cambridge Public Health Department will hold a Summer Vaccine Clinic at the King Open School on July 14 and August 4.

The Baker-Polito Administration announced the launch of MassNotify, a new free smartphone service that people in Massachusetts can voluntarily use to let others know that they may have been exposed to COVID-19. Massachusetts remains a leader in the nation in COVID-19 vaccinations, with almost 4 million residents fully vaccinated, and COVID-19 case trends continue to drop. Case counts in Massachusetts are down 99% from their peak in January, and hospitalizations are down by 93% since their peak in January.

The Baker-Polito Administration, Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg and the Massachusetts State Lottery announced the Massachusetts VaxMillions Giveaway for residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Fully vaccinated residents 18 and older will have the opportunity to enter to win of five, $1 million cash prizes. Fully vaccinated residents between 12-17 years of age may enter for the chance to win one of five $300,000 scholarship grants.

We want to thank each of you for your contributions to our COVID-19 response efforts this past year. Since the launch of our shared journey in March 2020, we have learned a great deal. Your collective input has been invaluable to our efforts, as illustrated by the current situation and the effective mitigation of COVID-19 here in Cambridge.

The Baker-Polito Administration announced a new initiative, the Vax Express, to help further increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine, particularly in communities with low vaccination rates. The Vax Express aims to further increase the Commonwealth’s vaccination rate by offering a unique, and community-focused approach to encourage more people to get vaccinated. Massachusetts continues to be a national leader in vaccination rates with 80 percent of adults having received at least one dose and over 3.9 million residents fully vaccinated.

With the State of Emergency ending on June 15, the City of Cambridge and the Cambridge Public Health Department (CPHD) would like to thank all of the partners who have made the City’s robust response to the COVID-19 pandemic possible.

After discussions with the Cambridge Public Health Department, and to better align with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's case count reporting methods, two changes were made to the City of Cambridge COVID-19 Data Center.

With the Commonwealth's State of Emergency ending on June 15, 2021, the City will begin welcoming residents back in administrative buildings without appointments on Tuesday, June 15th.

The City of Cambridge announced that it is extending its successful program for feeding homeless residents with meals provided by local food establishments through September 5, 2021. In March 2020, the City launched an innovative project to contract with local restaurants to provide food to the City’s homeless community during the COVID-19 public health crisis.