Please be advised that you may be contacted by Public Health officials as part of the COVID-19 Contact Tracing Initiative sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. If you have tested positive for COVID-19 or were exposed to someone who has tested positive, you may receive a call from your local Board of Health or from the MA Department of Public Health. The call will only take a few minutes and is a necessary step to limit the spread of the virus. Your information will not be shared with any other agencies and these officials will never ask for your social security number or health insurance information. If you have any questions about a call you received, contact us at coronaresponse@holyoke.org
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/covid-19-dashboard-may-8-2020/download
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.
685* Holyoke residents have been confirmed positive by testing.
(*Decreased number does not mean less total cases, it means that during an investigation of cases there was a difference in information received, such as an an incorrect address, which then puts the case in the count of the correct town)
4,522* confirmed cases in Hampden County (-% increase)654 in Hampshire (10% increase)
289 in Franklin (1.5% increase)
472 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 now experienced a total of 4,702 deaths connected to Covid-19