A voice pierces the silence, inquiring if there are spirits there with them. They wait with eager ears. Suddenly, it comes — a tap on the walls — faint and indistinct, but enough to send the room into an uproar.
RISE was spearheaded by Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Alanna M. Mallon and Councilor Marc C. McGovern in cooperation with community organizations like Just A Start and Cambridge Community Foundation. “The hope is that once people gain a little bit more security, they can use that financial security to then help them move forward,” McGovern says.
Allies offers its members several perks, including $0 copays at virtual appointments and access to five specialist doctors within 72 hours of referral, at a relatively lower cost.
For Shang and other immunocompromised students, campus policies have much higher stakes than just comfort. “The most frustrating part that I’ve had conversations about with people who don’t want the mask mandate has just been me being like, ‘I have this condition. I would basically die if I got Covid,’” Shang says. “And then people are like, ‘Yeah, but that’s your issue, not ours.’”