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Date: 1/11/2022
HOLYOKE – Effective Jan. 6, the Holyoke Board of Health has reinstated a mask mandate for all indoor spaces in the city of Holyoke.
On Dec. 28 Mayor Joshua Garcia issued a temporary mask mandate for all municipal buildings due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the city. On Dec. 2, there were 179 cases over a two-week period and a 4.38 percent positivity rate over that same time period. However, as of Dec. 23, Holyoke had 460 cases over a two-week period and a 7.56 percent positivity rate.
As of Jan. 4, 63.3 percent of Holyoke residents were fully vaccinated and 73.3 percent have had at one dose. Both of those numbers continue to improve but are well below the state benchmarks of 76.5 percent and 88.4 percent, according to a statement on the city’s Facebook page
Due to the expected holiday surge of positivity rates, as of Jan. 4 the Board of Health broadened the municipal mask mandate to a city-wide indoor mask mandate.
The city’s website states, “Holyoke continues to see an alarming increase in positive COVID-19 cases, especially in the younger population; and the delta and omicron variants are now accounting for approximately 99 percent of positive cases in Massachusetts and cases have appeared in Holyoke and these variants are almost twice as contagious as previous variants.”
On Dec. 31, Garcia had already issued a message on his Facebook page stating the two-week average of cases had more than doubled since the first week of December. As of Garcia’s post, the percent positivity has increased from 5.8 percent to 10 percent in that same time span.
Garcia continued to urge residents to remain vigilant for symptoms and to talk with friends and family about getting vaccinated and getting boosters if eligible. He said starting Jan. 8 and for the following four Saturday’s vaccine clinics would be taking place at the Holyoke Mall.
COVID-19 testing sites will also continue at Holyoke Community College on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 7-11 a.m. and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 p.m.-7 p.m., at the Holyoke War Memorial located at 310 Appleton St. on Wednesdays and Fridays from 2 - 6 p.m., at the Holyoke Medical Center, 575 Beech St., in the Auxiliary Conference Center Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., at the CVS on Whiting Farms Road by appointment only and at Walgreens on Northampton Street, also by appointment only.
The city also announced that it had received at-home COVID-19 test kits from the state. The kits were sent home with every student in the Holyoke Public Schools and will also be available at the Holyoke Public Library, Holyoke Senior Center, Holyoke Veterans Services, One Holyoke CDC, Enlance de Familias, Tapestry Health, Western Mass Elder Care, Providence Ministries, Holyoke Health Center, Greater Holyoke YMCA and the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club.
More details on the reinstated indoor mask mandate are available at https://www.holyoke.org/covid-19-mask-mandate-1-6-2022/