Published in the April 16, 2020 edition.
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – There are currently 141 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wakefield and 90 in neighboring Melrose.
Ruth Clay, Health Director for the district that includes both communities, reported the latest numbers at last night’s joint meeting of the Health Boards for both communities held via teleconference.
Clay said that, unsurprisingly, a high proportion of the cases were in congregate housing settings like nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
She said that the National Guard is available to test nursing home residents and has been out several times to Wakefield and Melrose. They can test residents who are symptomatic and asymptomatic.
Clay also reported that a couple of thousand paper masks left over from the stockpile that the Wakefield Emergency Management purchased in response to the H1N1 outbreak have been delivered to senior housing facilities in Wakefield and to the Wakefield Food Pantry.
She said that 10,000 masks have been ordered for Wakefield and information on obtaining those will be put out when they arrive. Clay said that the town of Wakefield’s Communications Director Jen MacDonald has put together a sheet of resources that will be distributed with the masks.
In Melrose, a quantity of paper masks in the Emergency Management stockpile have also been distributed to senior housing facilities. She said that Melrose has 20,000 masks on order, which are at least 10 days away from delivery. Several hundred cloth masks made by Melrose residents have been delivered to 101 households in Melrose.
Clay updated the boards on the parking restrictions around Lake Quannapowitt to discourage crowds of lake walkers.
She said that she is on regular conference calls with the state Health Department and the national Centers for Disease Control.
According to Clay, 20 nurses, including school nurses in both communities, continue to work on case management and contact tracing under the supervision of Public Health Nurse Karen Cronin. She said that those nurses are being paid for this work through state emergency funds provided to the district.
Those funds are also being used to reserve a block of rooms at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel on Audubon Road for quarantine use by individuals who cannot quarantine at home.
Clay said that a surge in cases has not been seen in either Wakefield and Melrose.
Wakefield Board of Health Chairman Laurel Gourville said the she recently did a cable show (by teleconference) with Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio. She noted that Maio and Town Council Chairman Edward Dombroski have taken a lead role in local messaging related to the virus outbreak.
She said that WCAT has offered to push out any information that the town provides. Clay noted that she reviews for accuracy all official information that goes out from both communities.
There was some discussion of what constitutes a health advisory versus an order. She said that the state has ordered grocery stores to mark off 6-foot increments on the floor for social distancing and to limit store capacity.
But face masks, she stressed, are an advisory and not mandatory in grocery stores. She noted that the state is also advising people to use a face covering when leaving home. The fact that face masks are still hard to come by makes issuing an mandatory order problematic, Clay said.