New Bedford Tests as White House Warns of Significant COVID Wave

The White House is forecasting a pretty grim fall and winter for COVID infections and a "potentially significant wave of deaths," according to a newspaper account.

The Washington Post reports, "The Biden Administration is warning the United States could see 100 million coronavirus infections and a potentially significant wave of deaths this fall and winter, driven by new omicron sub-variants that have shown a remarkable ability to escape immunity."

The Post's report relies on an unnamed source who briefed reporters on background, and it appears to be a worst-case scenario, according to others mentioned by the newspaper.

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Since no one can say with certainty what may or may not happen months from now, let's just leave that on the table until we have more facts and focus on the here and now.

One thing we are sure of is the Project Beacon COVID testing site at the New Bedford Regional Airport remains in operation and will for the foreseeable future.

Michael Lawrence, the Mitchell Administration's Public Information Officer, told me the testing site "will continue throughout at least June 30 on its current schedule of Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays."

Lawrence said the site will conduct tests from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 12, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 15. For a complete listing of future testing, times and locations click here.

"Project Beacon's testing at the airport is part of the state's Stop the Spread program," Lawrence said.

You can follow the latest daily COVID tracking information from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by clicking here.