Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/author/cbreitro/page/427/)
Massachusetts State House. Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that K-12 schools and non-emergency child care facilities in the Bay State will remain closed until May 4 as a precaution due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The announcement came as the number of cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) jumped by 679 in Massachusetts in one day. In Watertown the number went from 12 to 15. Also, the Mass.
Watertown’s Town Hall. Watertown’s Town Council and the School Building Committee will not be meeting until at least April 7, due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Town Council President Mark Sideris sent an email to Councilors alerting them that for now, they will not be meeting, even using video conferencing. The message reminded the Council that the March 24 Council meeting would not be taking place. “I cancelled the council meeting scheduled for (Tuesday) as there was nothing pressing that could not be dealt with at a later date,” Sideris said in the message.
The sign posted at Watertown parks and fields reminding people that they are closed due to the Coronavirus. The number of Watertown residents who have tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has reached 15, as of Wednesday. Also, Town officials remind residents that parks and fields remained closed in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. The number of confirmed cases in town was published on the Town’s COVID-19 web page. The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts has increased significantly over the past six days.
State Sen. Will Brownsberger
A majority of people who took State Sen. Will Brownsberger’s poll on Massachusetts’ response to the Coronavirus said they don’t think the state has gone far enough to stop the spread, would be willing to shelter-in-place for a few weeks and believe they are financially secure for a year. Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston, put up the poll over the weekend, and asked four questions. “The surprising result of the survey is that willingness to increase social distancing appears, at least in this sample of people engaged in the community, to have only modest relationship to age, zipcode, financial security or current working arrangement,” Brownsberger wrote in his post about the poll results. The first question, about Massachusetts’ response to COVID-19, found that 54 percent of the 3,259 people who took the poll said the state “did not go far enough,” 42 percent said they state is getting it just right, while 3 percent checked “We have gone too far.” Note that the poll went up before Gov. Baker’s order to close non-essential businesses and the stay-at-home advisory.
Looking for ways to help people in Watertown who are adversely impacted by the Coronavirus, the Watertown Community Foundation has created a new fund. Jan Singer, executive director of the Community Foundation, said the response to the Community Resilience Fund already been positive. The Foundation boards met remotely using Zoom to put together plans for the fund. “We know that this is going to be very difficult for a lot of people and it’s going to last for a while, we are assuming at this point,” Singer said. “We met together as a board and came up with an idea for the Resilience fund.
A Watertown company has started looking at how it can produce much-needed medical equipment to help during the Coronavirus outbreak. A shortage of medical supplies has been a problem as hospitals test for and treat patients with the COVID-19. Mark-Forged, located on Pleasant Street, has started to develop ways to 3-D print swabs and protective face shields used by medical staff when working with patients who may have the Coronavirus. The company was featured in a story on WHDH Channel 7. CEO Mark Greg estimates that 20 3-D printers could make 14,000 swabs a day.
State Sen. Will Brownsberger
State Sen. Will Brownsberger is taking an anonymous poll of constituents about Massachusetts’ response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), so far. (See the results here: https://www.watertownmanews.com/2020/03/24/see-the-results-of-sen-brownsbergers-poll-on-the-states-coronavirus-response/)
The short questionnaire (four questions) asks people what they think about the steps taken by the State of Massachusetts, including closing schools, potentially sheltering in place and how it has impacted them. To take the poll go here: https://willbrownsberger.com/covid-19-response-questions/
Brownsberger represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston.
The Mass. Department of Unemployment Assistance will host a series of town hall meetings which people can join by phone or online. The sessions will help people file unemployment claims and get other questions answered. Those joining by computer can do so that day, but people joining by phone need to register by 5:30 p.m. the day before. The Mass.