As part of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $15,909,257 to health centers in Massachusetts to expand testing.
The State announced today that golf courses in Massachusetts can reopen if they follow tight restrictions including no carts and no caddies among several other measures. Individuals on the course follow social distancing. Golf courses are still considered non-essential and course staff that work on recreational aspects of the facilities may not return to work.
Wistariahurst has announced a project to document the local experience of the Covid-19 pandemic in Holyoke. Members of the public are encouraged to submit stories, photos, audio files, or video to a growing online collection that will give future researchers a glimpse at what life was like during this crisis for people in Holyoke. All contributions that relate to Holyoke are welcome and will become a part of Holyoke’s digital archival collection held at Wistariahurst. Due to the sensitive and ever-changing nature of the disaster, submissions will not be released as part of the public archives until 2025. Submissions can be made online at www.Wistariahurst.org/Corona-
If you receive a call or message from the Holyoke Board of Health or from “MA COVID Team,” please call back and follow their instructions in order to participate in the kind of community contact tracing which can contain the virus and save lives. Please spread the word that The Holyoke Board of Health will never share your personal information or health status with any outside agency.
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. 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.
689 Holyoke residents have been confirmed positive by testing.
4,529 confirmed cases in Hampden County (5% increase)
595 in Hampshire (2.5% increase)
285 in Franklin (2.5% increase)
464 in Berkshire county (<1% increase)
The curve we need to flatten: County numbers graphed over time can be found here: https://www.wmasscovid.com/
Massachusetts has now experienced a total of 4,552 deaths connected to Covid-19