Nearly 4,000 In MA Got COVID-19 After Vaccinations: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Thursday, June 17. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• There will be weekend-long traffic alterations on the Massachusetts Turnpike this summer as MassDOT works on a bridge repair project.
• Although it's a year away, tickets to the 122nd US Open at the Country Club in Brookline are set to go on sale Friday.
• The state legislature approved Aug. 14 and 15 for this year's sales tax holiday, when purchases up to $2,500 would be exempt from the state's 6.25% sales tax.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

About one out of every 1,000 Massachusetts residents who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus have tested positive for COVID-19 after they received their shots.

There were 3,791 of the so-called breakthrough cases as of June 12, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, up 4.1 percent from 3,641 one week earlier. Health officials say there are likely more breakthrough cases than those that have been reported, as people who contract COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated rarely show symptoms.

The department echoed a call from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for vaccinated people to get tested, even if they have no symptoms, so researchers can track new mutations of COVID-19.

Read the full story.

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Thursday's Other Top Stories

Project means tough summer on Mass Pike: Over eight consecutive weekends this summer starting June 18, MassDOT will replace eight outdated bridges along the Mass Pike in Southborough and Westborough. That will mean weekend-long traffic alterations with the freeway cut down to two lanes in either direction between Framingham and I-495. Traffic will also be pushed to one side of the freeway.

E. coli cuts into swim time: Framingham opened its three public beaches on Thursday for the swimming season. But two of them, including one at Lake Cochituate, will be closed to swimmers due to high levels of E. coli bacteria.

Fore! Although it's a year away, tickets to the 122nd US Open at the Country Club in Brookline are set to go on sale Friday. The golf major set for the week of June 13, 2022, will be the fourth time it will be held at the Brookline golf course. But it's been a while: It will be the first time in more than three decades the US Open will be held at the Country Club, which is one of the USGA's five founding clubs.

Speaking of golf: A developer is seeking to open a new virtual golf facility in Marlborough. It would be the third X-Golf facility in the region outside Wayland and Auburn.

Eat fresh: Patch's 2021 Massachusetts Farmers Market Guide

In Case You Missed It

State trooper in death investigation had previous complaint: A Norwood mother in 2020 filed a complaint about a state police investigator assigned to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office — the same trooper who a Hopkinton mother has said made an inappropriate comment about her daughter, who was found dead in a wooded area in April after an apparent suicide. State police Sgt. Sean O'Brien, a member of the Middlesex State Police Detective Unit (SPDU), was one of the first troopers on the scene when Mikayla Miller was found dead on April 18. Miller's mother, Calvina Strothers, has said O'Brien told her the teen's "sexuality would be exposed" if Strothers alerted the media about the death.

TikTok challenge leads to teen's death: A Massachusetts middle schooler died this week after suffering fatal injuries from attempting a viral TikTok challenge. According to a GoFundMe page set up by a relative, Nate Squires was found unresponsive in his home June 12, and succumbed to his injuries June 14. He was 13. Now family members of Squires want to bring awareness to the deadly "Blackout Challenge," a game on TikTok that dares those who participate to choke themselves until they lose consciousness.

By The Numbers

$38 million: The amount of tax revenue Massachusetts lost during its tax holiday weekend in 2018. The state legislature on Thursday approved Aug. 14 and 15 for this year's sales tax holiday, when purchase up to $2,500 would be exempt from the state's 6.25% sales tax.

Eat Mass: Court Ruling Cuts COVID Funding For Massachusetts Restaurants

It's time for the third edition of Eat Mass, Patch's weekly round up of food and restaurant news in Massachusetts. This week's issue includes:

• This week's restaurant openings and closings in Massachusetts.
• A federal court ruling last month means the U.S. Small Business Administration has to halt payments to 2,965 business owners who had already been approved for loans under the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
• Most — but not all — Boston-area food halls have reopened as the pandemic winds down.
• Which pandemic food shopping trends are here to stay?

And a whole lot more. Read it now.