Health Care

A more contagious variant of COVID-19, which the CDC said Sunday it is closely watching, is likely already in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday.

Hologic has paid $64 million to buy a German biopsy health technology firm, the Marlborough medical device maker said Monday, giving it the second acquisition of roughly that size in the past five months.

A 57,000-square-foot building on Gold Star Boulevard in Worcester that Seven Hills Foundation has leased will be used as a new behavioral health center, the Worcester human services nonprofit said Monday.

Nominations are open for WBJ's Business Leaders of the Year and Hall of Fame awards, both of which aim to honor those Central Mass. individuals who have made names for themselves in their industries and communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained the health care system in myriad ways over the past year, but Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday that a "silver lining" of the public health crisis is that reforms like telehealth were able to be tested, and proved effective.

Worcester County will end the year with a slight dip in weekly COVID-19 cases but having surpassed 40,000 coronavirus cases.

Marlborough’s Cognoptix, a healthcare company developing a system for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, has formed a new board of directors following a recent funding round.

The staff at Whittier Health Network facilities have begun receiving a coronavirus vaccine.

The Baker administration has been anticipating that Massachusetts would receive about 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2020, a projection that Gov. Charlie Baker said on the second-to-last day of the year still holds, despite a "bumpy" rollout process.

The city of Worcester appears to already be seeing the repercussions of Christmas gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. City officials reported 335 new positive cases on Wednesday alone, its highest single-day mark yet.