STOP THE SPREAD TESTING SITES EXTENDED TESTING THROUGH OCT. 31ST
WALK UP COVID-19 Testing Site in Holyoke
A new walk-up COVID testing site opened in Holyoke at 323 Appleton St. Testing hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2pm to 6pm. Testing will run until 10/31/20.
DRIVE UP COVID-19 Testing Site in Holyoke
A Stop the Spread test has opened at Holyoke Community College. Testing will run until 10/31/20.
– The site will operate Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 7am – 11am. Tuesday and Thursday 2pm -7pm.
– 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
Is Mass. In Another COVID Surge? An Outbreak Predictor Is ‘Showing Some Concerning Signs’
There’s no crystal ball that can tell us what’s going to happen next with COVID-19, but there are computer models that provide some insight into the direction things are heading. Scientists at Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a COVID-19 outbreak predictor computer model, and it’s showing that infection rates are increasing at an alarming rate in many Massachusetts counties. WGBH News Reporter Craig LeMoult spoke with Benjamin Linas, associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center, who is one of the computer model’s developers.
” So this tool is showing some concerning signs right now. And I think it’s agreeing with what a lot of people may have been experiencing or hearing about in the media, that our case counts are going up. And the tool says that our doubling time is accelerating. The rate of expansion is increasing. All around the Boston area, we’re starting to see counties turn, on our map, an orange color, which means that the doubling time is somewhere around three to four weeks. Which, I will be clear, our doubling times at the peak of our surge in May were measured in days. And so I want to be clear that we’re not in that kind of situation right now. But the evolution of it is such that the counties are starting to turn more and more red. In western Massachusetts, in Hampshire County, that county right now on our predictor is coming up as less than a one-week doubling time, which is very concerning. There’s the beginnings of discussion of should we be moving forward in Massachusetts with our reopening plan? Is this perhaps a time to pause? What’s the right approach now? I think there’s reason to be concerned. There’s certainly not reason to be panicking and walking backward. But it might not be the time to be continuing to move forward and to double down on our efforts on masking and distancing and see if we can stop this now before we end up with surges like we had in April and May.” Read the full conversation here: https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/10/12/is-mass-in-another-covid-surge-an-outbreak-predictor-is-showing-some-concerning-signs
As of today there are currently 1212 positive COVID cases in Holyoke < 1% increase
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/
As of today Massachusetts had experienced a total of 9,413 deaths among the 137,565 confirmed Covid-19 cases.