Governor Baker signed Orders to enforce the use of face coverings in “any place open to the public” where 6′ social distancing cannot be maintained. This includes outdoor spaces, businesses, workplaces, and public transportation. The order may be enforced by fines.
The general public is still urged not to use medical-grade masks in order to ensure those go to emergency and health care workers, but to use cloth masks, scarves, or other fabric coverings over the mouth and nose.
The Order allows business owners to deny services to those who do not wear a mask.
The Surgeon General’s instructions for a no-sew mask. (Link to video no longer available)
Anyone who has a medical condition that would prevent them from wearing a face covering is exempt. Children 2 years old or younger also do not have to wear face coverings. READ FULL ORDER
The City of Holyoke Office for Community Development has issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for Community Development Block Grant Funds for the purposes of preventing, preparing for or responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Holyoke will receive $744,625. in CDBG-CV funds.
To ensure that the Community Development Block Grant-COVID funds are meeting the needs of the City of Holyoke, the deadline for submitting proposals has been extended to Monday May 11, 2020 at 10:00 am EST and the Plan Schedule has been adjusted accordingly.
The application link will remain available until Monday May 11, 2020.
Massachusetts now is releasing a comprehensive “dashboard” to illustrate the spread of this virus across regions and demographics. You can view today’s here: https://www.mass.gov/doc/
Testing has a turnaround time of 1 – 4 days and many cases are being clinically diagnosed (no testing or reporting involved). All are advised to behave as though they are carriers of Covid-19.
629 Holyoke residents have been confirmed positive by testing.
3,900 confirmed cases in Hampden County (3% increase)
546 in Hampshire – update N/A
260 in Franklin (1% increase)
444 in Berkshire county (.5% increase)
The curve we need to flatten: County numbers graphed over time can be found here: https://www.wmasscovid.com/
Today Massachusetts saw its largest single day death toll. The State has now experienced a total of 3,716 deaths connected to Covid-19