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COVID-19 Report Holyoke 9-3-20

Posted on September 3, 2020


STOP THE SPREAD WALK UP COVID-19 Testing Site in Holyoke

A new walk-up COVID testing site opened today in Holyoke at 323 Appleton St.  Testing hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 3pm to 6pm. Testing will run until 9/30/20.

STOP THE SPREAD DRIVE UP COVID-19 Testing Site in Holyoke

A Stop the Spread test has opened at Holyoke Community College. Testing will run until 9/30/20.

– The site will operate Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 7am – 11am. Tuesday and Thursday 2pm -7pm.  Testing will be open and available regular hours on Labor Day.

– Turnaround time for results is typically 4 days or fewer.

 

– This test site is first come, first serve. There are no appointments. Please do not call the Health Department or Holyoke Community College to make an appointment.

– The test site at Holyoke Community College is a drive-through only test site. Please do not get out of your vehicle. Signage and Campus Police will be readily apparent to help you access the site easily.

– To help speed up the process, please have your information ready. They will ask for your full name, address (you must be a Massachusetts resident), phone number and email address.

– There is no cost for the testing. You do not need a referral, nor do you need to be symptomatic.

– The test style will be the less invasive swab in the lower nostril. The older style that required further insertion of the swab will not be used.

– If you have previously tested positive, DPH and CDC guidelines do not recommend getting retested at this time.

– If you are acutely symptomatic, particularly if you have a high fever, consider scheduling a test with your Primary Care Physician.

– Information on all of the Stop the Spread test sites across the State can be found at: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/stop-the-spread

 

New Tracker to Report COVID Cases in Schools

MASSACHUSETTS — While school for many students in Massachusetts will begin online this fall, several districts will be opening their classrooms for in-person learning.

Many teachers and parents have expressed concerns about returning to the classrooms; most districts going back to school buildings have offered an online option as well to accommodate students who would prefer to learn remotely.

With schools closed since March, all eyes will now be on the schools that reopen to watch for any outbreaks of the virus.

To help keep tabs on where and how many cases are occurring in schools in individual states and communities, the National Education Association has launched a tracker.  Read more about it here:  https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/coronavirus-ma-schools-tracker-shows-where-how-many-cases

 

Currently there are 1079 positive COVID cases in Holyoke- no change

Weekly Public Health Report (Updated Wednesday) Contains town-by-town numbers, long-term care facility information, and more: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting#covid-19-weekly-public-health-report-

Massachusetts comprehensive daily “dashboard” illustrating the spread of this virus across regions and demographics: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting#covid-19-daily-dashboard-

Testing has a turnaround time of 1-5 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.

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 8,870 deaths among the 119,819 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Please read the following for the newly defined parameters regarding the reported statistics:

September 3, 2020

An important note:  On August 6, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists announced the release of an updated COVID-19 national case definition recently endorsed by CDC. Today’s dashboard includes updated data which utilizes the new case definition.The previous case definition defined probable cases as individuals: with a positive antigen or serology test AND symptoms or likely exposure; with COVID-19 listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on a death certificate; and with appropriate symptoms and likely exposure. The criteria indicating likely exposure were very broad and included known contact with a case, contact with a likely case, travel to or residence in a location with COVID-19 transmission, or association with a specific outbreak.The new case definition updates the clinical criteria associated with COVID-19; defines probable cases as individuals: with a positive antigen test, with COVID-19 listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on a death certificate, or with appropriate symptoms and likely exposure. The criteria indicating likely exposure are now restricted to known contact with a case or association with a specific outbreak. Individuals with positive serology (antibody) tests have been placed in a new suspect category which is not reportable to CDC.In order to provide a single set of consistent data for tracking COVID-19 in Massachusetts, today’s data includes only probable cases identified through antigen testing or death certificates. These criteria are the most objective and able to be applied over time. This definition has been used to update all of the data – including previously reported data.Many jurisdictions do not report probable cases at all. Those that do, tend to focus on antigen testing and death certificates. The change to our data improves comparability with other jurisdictions reporting probable cases.This does not change data on probable cases previously reported to CDC; however, the new case definition does apply to probable case reported to CDC from now on

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