Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Thank Nicole here. We are halfway through the week. My
Speaker 2: name is Dan Ray, host of Nightside. I'm here. I've
Speaker 2: been here all week. Guess who's back at Broadcast Central,
Speaker 2: Rob Brooks after having recovered from a couple of days
Speaker 2: under the weather. Nothing serious, are you, Rob brook fans?
Speaker 2: Rob Brooks fans out there, He's going to be just fine.
Speaker 2: We've talked a little bit before the show. He's ready
Speaker 2: to go, so he'll take care of everybody beginning at
Speaker 2: nine o'clock and tonight, we are going to spend some
Speaker 2: time talking about utility bills through the roof here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: And also egg prices, as Marita wrote today, are not
Speaker 2: so egg scelent right now if you get our drifts.
Speaker 2: So we'll talk a lot of home economics. But first
Speaker 2: we're going to talk with four guests. I hope for
Speaker 2: at least three guests, having a little trouble reaching one
Speaker 2: of them, but that's okay, that sometimes happens. I'm going
Speaker 2: to start off with doctor Rebecca Perkins. Doctor Perkins is
Speaker 2: an obstetrician and gynecologist as well as an investigator at
Speaker 2: the Mother Infant Research Institute at Tuft's Medical Center at
Speaker 2: Doctor Perkins. Welcome to Night's side. I never realized there
Speaker 2: was a Mother Infant Research Institute at Tough's Medical Tell
Speaker 2: us about it.
Speaker 3: Yes, so it is a precach institute that focuses on
Speaker 3: women's health and obstetrics and gynecology.
Speaker 2: Well, you're the perfect person for that. I think there's
Speaker 2: no question about that. We're going to talk about some
Speaker 2: new guidelines that have been released, and this is where
Speaker 2: I get a little confused to govern self collection for
Speaker 2: HPV screening and the importance of HPV screening. Now I
Speaker 2: have a sense of what HPV screening is, but there's
Speaker 2: probably many an areadys who have never heard of it,
Speaker 2: and maybe you would be kind enough to break it
Speaker 2: into language that those of us who are not in
Speaker 2: the medical community I can understand.
Speaker 3: Sure, absolutely, So this is a form of screening for
Speaker 3: cervical cancer. So every woman and person with a cervix
Speaker 3: who's between the ages of twenty one and sixty five
Speaker 3: should be regularly screening for cervical cancer because that's the
Speaker 3: kind of cancer that we know exactly what causes it,
Speaker 3: and we know exactly how to prevent it. And so
Speaker 3: since screening was introduced in the nineteen fifties, cervical cancer
Speaker 3: rates have dropped by over eighty percent. And so most
Speaker 3: people are familiar with being screened with the paps mirror.
Speaker 3: But now we know that pretty much all, almost one
Speaker 3: hundred percent of cervical cancers are caused by HPV or
Speaker 3: human papaloma virus, and so screening is moving away from
Speaker 3: using the pap smear and towards using actually testing for
Speaker 3: HPV itself.
Speaker 2: So so when you when someone and I know there
Speaker 2: was some controversy as to what age women would begin
Speaker 2: to do the HPV testing, that's a test that women
Speaker 2: can start even when we would consider them to be
Speaker 2: more more girl age of being a girl.
Speaker 3: Correct, HPV testing should start around age twenty five.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay, fair enough, Okay, So was it the age.
Speaker 3: You might be thinking of HPV vaccination and that's recommended
Speaker 3: for boys and girls between the ages of nine and twelve.
Speaker 2: Gotcha, Okay, so this is called and again what I'm
Speaker 2: confused about is here it says that nine months after
Speaker 2: the US Food and Drug Administration, which is you know,
Speaker 2: confusing approved self collected human papalomavirus HPV testing as an
Speaker 2: alternate method of cervical cancer screening. The first ever guidelines
Speaker 2: have been released, So walk us through this. The tests
Speaker 2: for women who said twenty five to sixty five should
Speaker 2: I done in doctors' offices with the assistance of doctors.
Speaker 2: You know, again, we're just I'm trying to make sure everyone.
Speaker 3: Understands this absolutely. So up until this point, whether someone
Speaker 3: was getting a PAP smear or an HPV test or both,
Speaker 3: it was done by the doctor or nurse practitioner, the clinician,
Speaker 3: and it was you know, an exam with the speculum
Speaker 3: of pelvic exam. But now someone has the opportunity to
Speaker 3: do it themselves with a little swab that they insert
Speaker 3: themselves and then that swab is tested, so they don't
Speaker 3: actually have to have an exam by a doctor or
Speaker 3: medical professional in order to do the test. The test
Speaker 3: is still done in the doctor's office because it's a
Speaker 3: laboratory sample that has to go get tested, but the
Speaker 3: person doesn't necessarily have to have an exam by the
Speaker 3: doctor in order to have the test done. And that's
Speaker 3: the big sort of change here, is that someone can
Speaker 3: do the test themselves instead of having it done by
Speaker 3: the doctor.
Speaker 2: Okay, So as long as the individual, the woman in
Speaker 2: this case, a woman up between twenty five and sixty five,
Speaker 2: does the test properly, the government is very certain that
Speaker 2: those test results will be as accurate as if they
Speaker 2: had been done by been conducted either by a physician
Speaker 2: or a physician's assistant or a nurse. Is what I
Speaker 2: think I'm hearing you say.
Speaker 3: Yes, So, there have been a lot of studies looking
Speaker 3: at how well the result of someone doing the test
Speaker 3: themselves matches with the result from the doctor, and they
Speaker 3: match very very well. So that's why this test has
Speaker 3: been approved for use. The big difference is that if
Speaker 3: the test is positive, so if someone has an HPV infection,
Speaker 3: if it's if it's a test that they did themselves,
Speaker 3: they'll have to go back to their doctor to get
Speaker 3: a PAPS mirror. And if it's a test that the
Speaker 3: doctor did, then that perhaps mere result already be there
Speaker 3: so they won't have to necessarily go back again. So
Speaker 3: it can save a lot of people from having to
Speaker 3: get an exam of their doctor. But if the HPV
Speaker 3: test is positive, they will need to go back and
Speaker 3: get that passmear.
Speaker 2: What percentage of HPV tests are.
Speaker 3: Positive about between ten to twenty percent, okay?
Speaker 2: And how long does the papaloma virus remain? Meaning, in
Speaker 2: other words, when most of us think of a virus,
Speaker 2: to think, Okay, I got a virus on Tuesday and
Speaker 2: by Sunday, I'm over it. If young, if women young
Speaker 2: or old or older are doing tests on themselves, once
Speaker 2: the HPV is present, does it not go away? Is
Speaker 2: that the danger that basically a person's walking around for
Speaker 2: some length of time with this papaloma virus is that Again,
Speaker 2: I don't want to sound dumb here, but I'm a guy,
Speaker 2: so I'm trying to make sure I understand the parameter
Speaker 2: is here. I assume that these tests are done what.
Speaker 3: Annually, so if it's negative, it's actually done once every
Speaker 3: three years. And if it's positive, then someone would go
Speaker 3: and get the appropriate follow up and it would be
Speaker 3: done more often. But you know, we call it human
Speaker 3: papillomavirus because pretty much everyone who's a human man or
Speaker 3: woman will be exposed to this virus at some point
Speaker 3: during their lives. And that's why it's so important for
Speaker 3: women to get tested repeatedly to make sure that they're
Speaker 3: not at risk for cervical cancer. If someone tests positive,
Speaker 3: usually the immune system controls the virus over a couple
Speaker 3: of years, so it's not like you'll get it on
Speaker 3: Sunday and it's gone by Tuesday. It's you know, you'll
Speaker 3: get it in twenty twenty two and hopefully it's gone
Speaker 3: by twenty twenty four. But it can and then sometimes
Speaker 3: come back later on. So a new diagnosis of a
Speaker 3: new positive HPV test doesn't mean that it's a new infection.
Speaker 3: It could be an old infection that has come out again.
Speaker 2: Okay, And then men can can carry this infection and
Speaker 2: in fact, you know, contribute to the infection of their partner,
Speaker 2: I assume. But this is not nearly as dangerous a
Speaker 2: virus to men as it is to women, is what
Speaker 2: I'm hearing.
Speaker 4: Well, it it.
Speaker 3: Is because HPV can cause six different types of cancer,
Speaker 3: and the most common HPV related can answer in the
Speaker 3: United States right now is actually cancer of the base
Speaker 3: of tongue and tonsles, and that is more common in
Speaker 3: men than in women.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: The problem with that cancer is we don't have a
Speaker 3: way to screen for it and prevent it. So the
Speaker 3: cervical cancer, we know how to prevent it. So with
Speaker 3: screening and vaccination, we can prevent cervical cancer. But with
Speaker 3: the tongue and tonsile cancers, vaccination should prevent them, but
Speaker 3: we don't have a way to screen for them.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is very, very complicated, and I hope that
Speaker 2: it's going to at least cause people to think and
Speaker 2: also maybe do a little bit more research on their
Speaker 2: own as well. This is a I've learned a lot
Speaker 2: in this interview. To be honest with you, some of
Speaker 2: it is unsettling. But I think it's better to be
Speaker 2: unsettled than to be ignorant. So I thank you very
Speaker 2: much for your time tonight on this.
Speaker 3: Oh you're welcome. Yes, I would say, if there's one
Speaker 3: take home message for women, it's see your doctor and
Speaker 3: make sure you get screened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and can folks get more information? Is there a
Speaker 2: website that you can refer people to? Again, I don't
Speaker 2: want people calling you on the phone tomorrow say I
Speaker 2: heard you on Night Side last night. I got a
Speaker 2: couple of questions.
Speaker 3: I think the American Cancer Society has very good information
Speaker 3: on HPV and cervical cancer screening.
Speaker 2: Great, well, thank you very much for your time. Thank
Speaker 2: you very much. Doctor Rebecca Perkins an obstetrician and gynecologist
Speaker 2: as well as an investigator at the Mother Infant Research
Speaker 2: Institute at Tough Medical Center. So appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Thank you.
Speaker 2: Good night. When we get back, we will have another guest.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the lineup is here, so I'm
Speaker 2: not going to mention who will the next guest, but
Speaker 2: you're going to have to hold on in breathless anticipation.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, remind you that you can get the
Speaker 2: iHeart app. It's a new iHeart app. Very easily get
Speaker 2: your new iHeart app, and you also can use it
Speaker 2: heaven as a preset, so that way you'll never miss
Speaker 2: an edition of Nightside and you'll always be there on
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Speaker 2: sixty five days a year. We'll be back with our
Speaker 2: next guest in this edition of Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, we're only a couple of days away from March,
Speaker 2: and of course the big event in March for most
Speaker 2: of us here in Boston, whether we're Irish or not,
Speaker 2: is Saint Patrick's Day on March seventeenth, and all sorts
Speaker 2: of events leading up to Saint Patrick's Day. We are
Speaker 2: joined tonight by a member of an award winning Irish band.
Speaker 2: The band is pronounced Lenoosa. They will be playing in
Speaker 2: Somerville on March eighth, and with us is one of
Speaker 2: the members of that band, Kevin Crawford. He's a flute player,
Speaker 2: considered one of Ireland's greatest flute players. Kevin, Welcome to
Speaker 2: night Side.
Speaker 5: How are you, sir, Good evening, Dan, how are you?
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: I'm doing just great. I'm a Corkman. I am of
Speaker 2: Irish descent. My family grew up in the town of Mallow,
Speaker 2: about ten about twenty minutes north of Cork City on
Speaker 2: the Blackwater River. And I do not know what the
Speaker 2: word lunusa means in Gaelic. I assume it's a Gaelic word.
Speaker 2: Can you give us, first of all, a meaning for
Speaker 2: the word lanusa?
Speaker 5: I can, and I can correct you on the pronunciation
Speaker 5: as well. It's lunasas lunasa. YEA lunasa would be the
Speaker 5: Irish kind of way we'd pronounce it, but we we
Speaker 5: answer to anything, then we're good. You can you can
Speaker 5: chop it up and spit it out whatever you want.
Speaker 5: We'll still will still talk to you.
Speaker 2: So what my question is, does it is there some
Speaker 2: derivation when I see the letters l u n a
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of the Latin that meaning the moon tell
Speaker 2: us what Lunasa in Gaelic.
Speaker 5: Yes, I mean it's all related to that whole kind
Speaker 5: of moon sun kind of stuff. But Lunasa the way
Speaker 5: we spell it, the way the Irish spell it for
Speaker 5: that particular l u n a s a that's the
Speaker 5: Irish for the month of Aust.
Speaker 6: And then.
Speaker 2: I missed it. You broke up on me there, Kevin.
Speaker 2: For a second, that's Irish. That's Gaelic for what the
Speaker 2: month of what?
Speaker 7: August?
Speaker 2: August? Oh? Interesting, interesting, okay, but you're here.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 5: Sorry. It's also the name of a one of the
Speaker 5: the pagan festivals that would have happened in Ireland in
Speaker 5: the just preach calendar days, So you had Lunus swyn
Speaker 5: Baltan and there were four different festivals, and Lunas was
Speaker 5: the harvest festival, so it's kind of tied in with
Speaker 5: the month of August. The harvest, the sun and all
Speaker 5: of those lovely things that make it kind of a
Speaker 5: very special.
Speaker 2: Those Celtic pagans, they were kind of a wild bunch,
Speaker 2: and thank god Saint Patrick came to save us, that's
Speaker 2: for sure. You were a flute player. How does one
Speaker 2: become a flute player? I know the answer is probably
Speaker 2: with a lot of practice. But you would drawn, I
Speaker 2: assume to music, and that became the instrument that you've mastered.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, the simple answer is that I was
Speaker 5: actually drawn to Irish music, and there was a lot
Speaker 5: of Irish been played, you know, both through visiting musicians
Speaker 5: to our house and then you know Ricardo LPs and
Speaker 5: Irish radio and all of that stuff that would be played.
Speaker 5: But I just knew that I loved the sound of
Speaker 5: It's a combination of fiddle and flute, and I didn't
Speaker 5: really know which one was better than the other. And
Speaker 5: I dabbled on the fiddle initially because violins are fiddles
Speaker 5: were easy to get hold, easier to get hold of
Speaker 5: than Irish flutes there are quite difficult to get and
Speaker 5: they're very different to a classical flute, where a fiddle
Speaker 5: is the same as a violin. If you get my meaning.
Speaker 6: But so I just started on the fiddle, and I
Speaker 6: soon realized, and to the delight of my parents as well,
Speaker 6: that the fiddle wasn't going.
Speaker 5: To be the instrument for me because I was making
Speaker 5: some terrible noises for a couple of years with that thing.
Speaker 7: I can't understand.
Speaker 2: I couldn't understand that.
Speaker 5: Easy to move. It was easy to move on to
Speaker 5: the flute because in Ireland everybody learns the penny whistle.
Speaker 7: As a child.
Speaker 5: So so the next kind the level up from that,
Speaker 5: the next kind of logical step would be the flute.
Speaker 5: Are the Irish types because they have a similar kind
Speaker 5: of fingering, you know. So that's that's kind of it.
Speaker 5: And I just kept hunting and wishing and asking and
Speaker 5: begging and burrowing flutes, and then eventually I got one
Speaker 5: when I was sixteen.
Speaker 2: So so how much how much does your band travel?
Speaker 2: You're going to be here in Somerville and marsh eighth.
Speaker 2: Do you come across the pond often? Are you based
Speaker 2: in Ireland? Do you do a lot of half and half?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Yeah, So it's two three of the members of
Speaker 5: the band live in the US and three lived in Ireland,
Speaker 5: so I live currently in upstate New York. Our piper
Speaker 5: lives in New York City, and our film player lives
Speaker 5: in Florida. So it's they're the three kind of melody
Speaker 5: players and we're all based here. And then you've got
Speaker 5: our guitarist, double bass player. We also have a singer
Speaker 5: for this tour for the night in Boston, so they're
Speaker 5: all based in Ireland yet.
Speaker 2: So let's get to the most important information. Although this
Speaker 2: has been great background in biographical information. So you will
Speaker 2: be appearing at the Somerville Theater on Saturday, March eighth
Speaker 2: at seven pm.
Speaker 5: Yes, and it's a welcome return for us to the
Speaker 5: Somerville Theater. We've we've played there since we started them
Speaker 5: in the bands together since nineteen ninety seven, so we've
Speaker 5: been playing in Somerville for a man eas a long day,
Speaker 5: but we haven't played Somerville's theater, funny enough, for probably
Speaker 5: six or seven years. We started doing other shows in
Speaker 5: and around Boston. But it's really really exciting to be
Speaker 5: going back to the Somerville because that's where we cut
Speaker 5: our teeth back in the early naughties, you know.
Speaker 2: So this is again Saturday, March eighth at seven and
Speaker 2: tickets are available. I assume by content. I'm looking at
Speaker 2: my notes here and I don't see. Normally we can
Speaker 2: uh push people towards where they can get the tickets. Uh,
Speaker 2: they they get them.
Speaker 5: Well, if they go to our website, there'll be a
Speaker 5: link from there. So that's Lunasa band dot I e
Speaker 5: u O lunasaband dot com. I sis so okay, lunasaband
Speaker 5: dot com and there'll be the full tour and all
Speaker 5: the links from there are go directly to the Summerville Theater.
Speaker 3: I imagine that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, perfect, perfect, Well that's a great way to uh
Speaker 2: to bring in the month of March, of course, which
Speaker 2: means springtime and shamrocks in Saint Patrick's Day March eighth. Uh.
Speaker 2: If if I wasn't committed to doing something that night
Speaker 2: in Boston, I would have been there myself in the audience.
Speaker 5: So I have to you want to come down to
Speaker 5: see us, We'll have to celebrate Mallow and Kark another
Speaker 5: another time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're on a corkman, are you.
Speaker 7: I'm not.
Speaker 5: I'm very close though I'm from County Clare. I'm just
Speaker 5: too country.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 5: I holiday all the time down in Westcark, so I'm
Speaker 5: a big fan, a big fan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Well, thank you much, Kevin Crawford. I
Speaker 2: appreciate the time. The band is called Lunasta and they
Speaker 2: are going to be in Somerville in Somemmerville at the
Speaker 2: Somerville Theater on Saturday night, March eighth, at seven o'clock.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Kevin. I enjoyed the conversation. Hope to
Speaker 2: meet you up good. Thank you much.
Speaker 5: Oh, thanks so much, man, thanks really welcome.
Speaker 2: When we get back, we're going to first of all,
Speaker 2: taking a break for the news at the bottom of
Speaker 2: they are a couple of minutes late, apologize for that.
Speaker 2: And we're going to talk about the flu, which has
Speaker 2: been rampant around these parts in the last few weeks.
Speaker 2: And there are some serious complications from the flu that
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about with Alison Quiznitz, she's a
Speaker 2: State House reporter. Back on Nightside right after.
Speaker 1: This, It's night Side, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I think most of us either have had something
Speaker 2: like the flu or know someone in our family who
Speaker 2: has had something like the flu. In the last few weeks.
Speaker 2: It seemed to kind of, I guess, pop up around
Speaker 2: these parts and sometime in December with us is a
Speaker 2: State House news reporter, Alison Kusnitz, and Alison has a
Speaker 2: lot of information for US here on flu complications, particularly
Speaker 2: in children that has triggered a state advisory. Alison, Welcome
Speaker 2: to Nightside. How are you?
Speaker 1: Thank you?
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me well.
Speaker 2: Always great to have one of the State House news reporters.
Speaker 2: When I was a television reporter many years ago, spent
Speaker 2: a lot of time hanging out at the State House.
Speaker 2: I hope that they have a State House News reporter
Speaker 2: room now, which is better than what it was twenty
Speaker 2: or so years ago. But we'll leave that for another conversation.
Speaker 2: It probably is the same. So I caught something the
Speaker 2: week of Christmas and it was rough. It was upper
Speaker 2: respiratorium bronchitis, and it stayed away, and it stayed with
Speaker 2: me and I had this horrible cough. Is that the
Speaker 2: stuff that's going around or is it a different type
Speaker 2: of flu?
Speaker 4: Well, So there are a number of illnesses going around. Recently,
Speaker 4: the Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein had talked
Speaker 4: about that Massachusetts was seeing a peak in the flu,
Speaker 4: but other viruses, other respiratory viruses were actually on the decline,
Speaker 4: but he had said at a Public Health Council meeting
Speaker 4: earlier this month that Massachusetts had hit a peak that
Speaker 4: was actually surpassed the past five flu seasons, And just
Speaker 4: looking at the state's dashboard right now is pretty consistent
Speaker 4: with what the Commissioner was talking about just a few
Speaker 4: weeks ago. That's the estimated severity of flu throughout Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: So in really every county that they're tracking, it's very
Speaker 4: high rate of blue circulating right now.
Speaker 2: So it's still still here. We are at the end
Speaker 2: of February, the last week of February, the last couple
Speaker 2: of days of February, and it's still the interes what
Speaker 2: the tracking is still increasing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so this severity of the flu is increasing. Are
Speaker 4: there does seem to be some improvements with some of
Speaker 4: the metrics from the Department of Health. Some of this
Speaker 4: data is not perfectly updated. I believe the most recent
Speaker 4: data from DPH right now was from February twentieth. They
Speaker 4: are showing DPH data is showing there has been some
Speaker 4: decrease and the number of influenza like illness, business and
Speaker 4: also hospitalizations associated with influenza, but the numbers continue to
Speaker 4: be extremely high compared to the benchmark that health officials
Speaker 4: are using.
Speaker 2: Okay, so now the problem here is that this is
Speaker 2: a flu, but it also apparently has some complications that
Speaker 2: are neurological. That sounds to me like something that people
Speaker 2: should pay attention to. What does that all mean realistically?
Speaker 4: Sure, So the Department of Public Health put out a
Speaker 4: clinical advisory February fourteenth that has been circulating more and
Speaker 4: so basically, Department Public Health officials send out this notice
Speaker 4: wanting to let providers clinicians know that they're seeing a
Speaker 4: possible increase in children with neurological complications that could be
Speaker 4: associated with them also having the flu. Dph said that
Speaker 4: this could really be They're not quite sure why they're
Speaker 4: seeing this possible increase. They're saying it could simply be
Speaker 4: a matter of because flu activity is so high, therefore
Speaker 4: they're seeing a higher number of people with neurological complications.
Speaker 4: But they're also saying that, you know, kids that already
Speaker 4: had pre existing neurological conditions, or kids that are not
Speaker 4: vaccinated against the flu might have be a greater risk
Speaker 4: of developing some of these neurologic complications. Health officials said
Speaker 4: that seizure would be one of the most common types
Speaker 4: of complications, and then you could also see situations like
Speaker 4: brain inflammation other conditions with This.
Speaker 2: Sounds very serious when you're talking about the seizure or
Speaker 2: brain inflammation. Is that something that normally can be associated
Speaker 2: with the flu? I mean, I know the flu is miserable,
Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, but I didn't realize that particularly
Speaker 2: within children. Is it more common in children than adults
Speaker 2: that these neurological I think complications are appearing?
Speaker 4: Sure, I think officials are saying they're also not sure
Speaker 4: if maybe it's this type of strain of the flu
Speaker 4: that is causing the complications, or if it's this category
Speaker 4: of children that happen to be a greater risk. Right now,
Speaker 4: health officials said that people that do have these neurological conditions,
Speaker 4: they're not necessarily going to be chronic conditions. But health
Speaker 4: officials also said that that children that do end up
Speaker 4: with these neurological complications are going to see higher or
Speaker 4: longer lens to day in it, and they have a
Speaker 4: higher excuse me, a longer length of stay in hospitals,
Speaker 4: and they have a higher chance of being admitted to
Speaker 4: the ICU Wow.
Speaker 2: This is pretty scary. So one of the things I
Speaker 2: guess that parents need to think more seriously about is
Speaker 2: it's not too late I guess to get a flu
Speaker 2: shat for yourself or for your kids.
Speaker 1: Correct, sure, Yeah.
Speaker 4: One of the key recommendations in this clinical advisory is
Speaker 4: that children ages six months and older should be vaccinated
Speaker 4: if they're not already. And actually the number of people
Speaker 4: vaccinated in Massachusetts, it's just thirty eight percent or about
Speaker 4: thirty nine percent of Massachusetts residents are vaccinated against the
Speaker 4: blue so DPA because that's about two out of five
Speaker 4: residents who are vaccinated. That number doesn't necessarily differentiate between
Speaker 4: adults and children, but there's definitely a lot of improvement
Speaker 4: for folks who could be getting vaccinated against the blue.
Speaker 2: Well. It's interesting, you know, when COVID was ongoing and
Speaker 2: there was a lot of controversy about vaccinations and compulsory
Speaker 2: vaccinations versus you know, accepting vaccinate excinations voluntarily, and they
Speaker 2: would tie to people maintaining in some cases maintaining their jobs.
Speaker 2: I think that there was a lot of skepticism that developed,
Speaker 2: and I'm surprised that the vaccination level is that low
Speaker 2: here in Massachusetts, because I think Massachusetts is a I
Speaker 2: use the word progressive, not in a political sense, but
Speaker 2: in that we have a high degree of medical personnel here,
Speaker 2: medical institutions. The fact that only thirty six or thirty
Speaker 2: eight percent of people in Massachusetts vaccinated against the flu
Speaker 2: that surprises me as the number. Does it surprise you
Speaker 2: as well?
Speaker 4: I think it does. I think it definitely leads room
Speaker 4: to wonder what other public awareness campaigns public health officials
Speaker 4: could have done. I know that a number of healthcare
Speaker 4: organizations earlier in the flu season did put out a
Speaker 4: lot of public messaging really urging people to get their
Speaker 4: flu shots, saying that these flu shots are really widely available,
Speaker 4: whether it's not your doctor office or doctor's offices or
Speaker 4: local pharmacies. But it is surprising to see such a
Speaker 4: low number, especially when we see you know, RSV other
Speaker 4: respiratory illnesses also really heading mass to Judas residence this season.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if there's not a little bit of a
Speaker 2: backlash against some of the mandatory COVID vaccinations that are
Speaker 2: still for people's minds, and if there wasn't some some
Speaker 2: harm done to sort of like the psyche of a
Speaker 2: lot of people, and that I mean, I'm somebody who
Speaker 2: has I get all my vaccinations because I just happen
Speaker 2: to believe in vaccinations. But there's a substantial number of
Speaker 2: people in this country have become very skeptical and that
Speaker 2: that that is worrisome, you know, and I think it's
Speaker 2: always easier to convince rather than compel people to do anything,
Speaker 2: just from a philosophical point of view. Allison, I really
Speaker 2: enjoyed the conversation. You sound like a great state House
Speaker 2: News report, thorough direct, Thank you so much for this information.
Speaker 2: I look forward to having you on again. If we
Speaker 2: have ever ever had the asus you're having you on
Speaker 2: before now.
Speaker 4: I really appreciate it. Would be happy to come back
Speaker 4: any time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, was this your first appearance on on Night Side
Speaker 2: We do four? Well you did great. You're exceptionable. I
Speaker 2: mean that seriously. There are are state House News reporters
Speaker 2: every all our guests are great, but you're exceptional, very
Speaker 2: thorough and very responsive. I really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks, Alison.
Speaker 2: We'll talk again talking about compulsory things. There's a new
Speaker 2: poll out that base stats are not too sweet on
Speaker 2: taxing candy. We're going to talk with Chris Anderson, he's
Speaker 2: the president of the Massachusetts High Tech Council's council, about
Speaker 2: the possibility that your candy could be taxed. Just remember
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts they only tax two things, anything that moves
Speaker 2: and anything that doesn't move. We'll be back with Chris
Speaker 2: Anderson right after this break.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nights Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Delighted to be joined by Chris Anderson. Christopher Anderson, president
Speaker 2: of the Massachusetts High Tech Council, but he's also one
Speaker 2: of the organizers of a group called the Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance,
Speaker 2: and they have been doing some polling on how base
Speaker 2: Staters feel about taxing our candy, our chocolate bars, we
Speaker 2: got walllipops. It turns out the base Staters are not
Speaker 2: too sweet on that idea. Christopher Anderson, Welcome back to
Speaker 2: night'sat How are you good?
Speaker 3: Intro?
Speaker 7: It's great to be with you, Dan, Always a pleasure,
Speaker 7: you bet you so.
Speaker 2: Tell us about the mass Opportunity Alliance. Is this a
Speaker 2: subsidiary of the Massachusetts High Tech Council or is this
Speaker 2: a separate organization that you're involved with as well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, it's a great question. First of all, we
Speaker 7: have to start with the fact that there's a deep
Speaker 7: correlation between the strength or as as climate and the
Speaker 7: quality of life for everybody that lives in works in Massachusetts,
Speaker 7: and business leaders across our entire private sector economy have
Speaker 7: recognized a big change, a big swing in the pendulum.
Speaker 7: Things are getting a lot more challenging, and our workers
Speaker 7: and people that live in work across the state are
Speaker 7: realizing that the cost of living in Massachusetts are causing
Speaker 7: them to rethink whether they stick around here. So what
Speaker 7: the Mass Opportunity Alliance is a partnership to sort of
Speaker 7: bring together a cross organizational sector of different business leaders
Speaker 7: and activate residents and generate some awareness around what these
Speaker 7: trends are. And sixty four percent of Massachusetts voters are
Speaker 7: not enrolled in either political party, and that's really an
Speaker 7: opportunity for us to work through the Mass Opportunity Alliance
Speaker 7: to generate some engagement, action, and awareness that we expect
Speaker 7: them to be part of the solution as we go forward.
Speaker 2: Oh you know, Chris, you've heard me say this if
Speaker 2: you listen to my show before that we're lucky in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts because the Massachusetts only taxes. Two things here in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts anything that moves and anything that doesn't move. And
Speaker 2: I don't understand why why our residents are so concerned about,
Speaker 2: you know, just another tax here. They're going after my
Speaker 2: candy to They're going to have to pry that Hershey's
Speaker 2: chocolate bar from my cold, dead hand. I want you
Speaker 2: to know that.
Speaker 7: I mean, well, it's an interesting analogy to get people
Speaker 7: focused on the tax proposal. So the current budget that
Speaker 7: the governor proposed generates another seven percent increase in spending,
Speaker 7: but is assuming only a four percent increase in revenue growth.
Speaker 7: And within the budget, in addition to the candy tax,
Speaker 7: which sixty four percent of voters op pose based on
Speaker 7: our polling, there are proposals to raise taxes on vehicles, lodging,
Speaker 7: and meals across every city in town in Massachusetts, and
Speaker 7: voters are even more opposed to those provisions. So there's
Speaker 7: a disconnect between this correlation that business leaders see between
Speaker 7: the business climate and quality life and the policy proposals
Speaker 7: that elected officials are seen to be focused on. And
Speaker 7: we do share some common ground, for example, around housing
Speaker 7: and the need to make that more affordable, but in
Speaker 7: the middle of that you can't be raising spending in
Speaker 7: the state budget and proposing a whole host of new
Speaker 7: taxes that will affect different people in different cities and towns.
Speaker 2: Well, sometimes we can't even agree on what the size
Speaker 2: of the governor's budget proposal is. So I've seen sixty
Speaker 2: two billion, I've seen it as high as sixty six
Speaker 2: billion dollars, depending upon how it's calculated. And that's that's
Speaker 2: a problem as well, just the whole concept of transparency.
Speaker 2: And then the other thing is up at the state House.
Speaker 2: They are working, you know, twenty four to seven to
Speaker 2: try to get as much money out of people's pockets
Speaker 2: as they can. And the average person, the average voter,
Speaker 2: the average citizen is working their butt off just to
Speaker 2: pay all the taxes. And these folks up at the
Speaker 2: state House, they're isolated. They're in this little science lab
Speaker 2: of coming up with new taxes. At what point are
Speaker 2: the people in Massachusetts going to smarten up and say
Speaker 2: enough is enough?
Speaker 7: Well, that's what mass Opportunity is really designed to help achieve,
Speaker 7: is a greater awareness among people who don't normally think
Speaker 7: of the types of policies that they believe don't affect them.
Speaker 7: For example, the syer tax on incomes over a million.
Speaker 7: A lot of people just figure, well, that's not me.
Speaker 7: I'm not in that category. But look what's happening, Dan saying,
Speaker 7: a rapid out migration of high wealth individuals, not just
Speaker 7: retirees and those of the highest income brackets, but work
Speaker 7: Sixty eight percent of the people that are leaving are
Speaker 7: in the working age of between twenty eight and fifty four,
Speaker 7: and they're taking you know, decent wage jobs and their families,
Speaker 7: and they're moving to lower cost, better quality life states
Speaker 7: where they can raise their family and spend their resources.
Speaker 7: So that's an important fact that you know doesn't show
Speaker 7: up in the policy proposals yet, but it's on the
Speaker 7: tip of every business leader's consciousness. And we think we
Speaker 7: can help mobilize people who listen to your show, people
Speaker 7: who are rank and file across the state with this information.
Speaker 7: And the website at Mass Opportunity Alliance has a ton
Speaker 7: of this great research data and narrative around what the
Speaker 7: trends mean for people like you and me and our neighbors.
Speaker 7: And so I would encourage the audience to take a look.
Speaker 7: And you know, we've we've done a lot in only
Speaker 7: six months. Of MOA being public, and we have a
Speaker 7: plan over the next two to six years and beyond
Speaker 7: UH to use this vehicle to be proactive in addressing
Speaker 7: some of the challenges that we see.
Speaker 2: What's the website because I'm sure some of my listeners
Speaker 2: will want to migrate there and maybe join the organization
Speaker 2: supported in some way. Is at moa dot com or
Speaker 2: is it mass Opportunity Alliance?
Speaker 7: Yeah, Mass Opportunity Alliance dot com, dot org.
Speaker 2: Actually, oh it's a dot org. You should remember that, yeah.
Speaker 7: Dot org.
Speaker 2: Well, and we need more of that in Massachusetts. I
Speaker 2: mean the problem, Chris, you and I know it's a
Speaker 2: one party state, and whenever there's a one party state,
Speaker 2: everything is done behind closed doors. There's no transparency. The
Speaker 2: only politician up there who's actually trying to open up
Speaker 2: and and shine the light of daylight is the state auditor,
Speaker 2: and she's a Democrats.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and quite there are a number of Democrats who
Speaker 7: are on both branches that we've been meeting with that
Speaker 7: are very interested in and very supportive of our efforts
Speaker 7: because they see the trend that nobody wants to talk about.
Speaker 7: We have a lot of cheerleaders in Massachusetts that want
Speaker 7: to talk about how great team Massachusetts. We have a
Speaker 7: lot of assets that no other state has, that's for sure. Whoever,
Speaker 7: the people driving the economy, Dan, not the ones in
Speaker 7: public policy positions, but the folks driving our economy, our
Speaker 7: private sector economy. They're being tapped on the shoulder by
Speaker 7: officials in New Hampshire and Florida most successfully every day.
Speaker 7: And our employees recognize that they could take the same
Speaker 7: job in this mobile economy, relocate and get a raise
Speaker 7: without their income going up because their taxes are going
Speaker 7: to go down, and we lose that opportunity here in Massachusetts,
Speaker 7: and it changes the trajectory. And that's why we're really
Speaker 7: focused around the long term and making sure that the
Speaker 7: quality of life doesn't deteriorate. But in order for that
Speaker 7: to happen, Dan, you've got to assure that we have
Speaker 7: a strong, robust business economy that welcomes investment and job creation.
Speaker 7: And that's how you grow revenue now couplosing tax rates.
Speaker 2: What I'd love to do is bring you back some
Speaker 2: night and do in the long form interview, do an hour,
Speaker 2: maybe nine o'clock, and take calls. In this hour, we
Speaker 2: do four interviews. There are no callers, but I want
Speaker 2: people to have an opportunity to talk with you and
Speaker 2: ask you a question. So I'll have my producer get
Speaker 2: back in touch with you, and at some point in
Speaker 2: the next particularly as we move into the tax season,
Speaker 2: when people might be raised in people's minds and as
Speaker 2: they say any people that the only thing that attacks
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts are things that move and things that don't move.
Speaker 7: And well, you're doing great work, Dan. We appreciate your
Speaker 7: good work, and I look forward to coming back and
Speaker 7: maybe taking in a Lunas show sometime before then.
Speaker 2: Good luck with that as well. Hey, Chris, thanks very much.
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon. Okay, take care, bye, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: When we come back tonight, we are going to talk
Speaker 2: about the expense of living in Massachusetts, and we're going
Speaker 2: to start with utility bills and also going to talk
Speaker 2: about egg prices. Things are getting more expensive. It's not
Speaker 2: getting any easier for most of you, and this is
Speaker 2: an opportunity for you to have your voice heard. We're
Speaker 2: coming back on Night's side right after this