The Holyoke Board of Health has issued orders, effective Sunday, April 26th, 2020, at 12:01 a.m., establishing that all consumers and employees must wear face coverings (mask, bandana, scarf) at all times when social distancing cannot be maintained, at any businesses providing essential services within the City of Holyoke.
The following are exempted from this order:
- Children under 2 and any children who may compromise the integrity of the masks by removing them or touching them frequently
- Anyone who has trouble breathing, is incapacitated, or unable to remove the mask without assistance
- Anyone with underlying health and safety concerns which prevents the use of a mask
The mask order does not replace or negate the need to continue to practice safe social distancing measures.
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.
519 Holyoke residents have been confirmed positive by testing.
3,060 confirmed cases in Hampden County (8% increase)
396 in Hampshire (8% increase)
217 in Franklin (7% increase)
425 in Berkshire county (2% increase)
The curve we need to flatten: County numbers graphed over time can be found here: https://www.wmasscovid.com/
Massachusetts has experienced a total of 2,556 deaths connected to Covid-19