BOSTON (WHDH) - Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration is on high alert now that the omicron variant has made its way into Massachusetts.
The Commonwealth is one of at least 15 states with confirmed cases of the new variant.
The first case in the United States was identified in California on Wednesday.
The Mass. Department of Public Health announced Saturday that a Middlesex County woman in her 20s who traveled out of state tested positive for the omicron variant.
The woman is said to be fully vaccinated and experiencing a mild disease that did not require hospitalization.
Baker says he is working closely with the federal government to monitor the situation.
“The message about Omicron has been that it’s more contagious than some of the variants that came before it, but so far it appears to be relatively mild with respect to the symptoms it creates,” Baker said. “That may or may not be the case. That’s obviously the thing we’re paying the most attention to.”
Baker added that he’s working with local communities to open more vaccination sites, especially in places that need it the most.
“We have no supply problems at all with respect to the vaccine, the big challenge is creating enough sites and enough spaces for people to get vaccinated and get boosted,” he said.
With cases and hospitalizations on the rise in the Bay State, Baker says increased access to vaccines will be beneficial.
“In the state of Massachusetts, everybody who is unvaccinated got vaccinated, we would drop our hospitalization rate by 50 percent,” he said.
As Baker works to expand access to the vaccine and booster shots, he says the state is currently administering about 50,000 shots a day.
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