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EAST LONGMEADOW – For the past three weeks, East Longmeadow has been in the red along with 14 other cities and towns. Effectively on Nov. 2, they are back to the first step of phase three in the reopening plan. Their health inspector will check in with the businesses that are affected and make sure they’re aware of the new requirements.
Town Manager Mary E. McNally said, “I don’t know the exact case numbers because they change every day, but they’re attributed to community spread and we reached the red zone because we have exceeded the number of eight positive per 100,000 of population.”
McNally continued, “When I say community spread, I simply mean that obviously we have members of the community who are either not complying with the guidance to wear masks or to maintain social distancing or to stay away from large crowds. Maybe they’re asymptomatic and don’t know that they are carrying the virus, but there’s really no other explanation that makes sense.”
Every week, the state releases their COVID map which explains what towns are in the red, yellow green or not color coded based on how many cases of COVID-19 there are in the community.
More than one-third of the cities and towns in Massachusetts now stand in the Department of Public Health's highest risk designation for COVID-19.
The state’s color-coded system counts 121 municipalities in the red, representing an average daily incidence rate of 8 cases per 100,000 or higher over the past 14 days.
“It doesn't really have a great impact on our business community,” McNally said, “Essentially, it means businesses that were able to open in phase three have to go back to step one. The only business that’s affected in our community are gyms. They have to go from 50 percent occupancy to 40.”
The general rule McNally explained applies to driving and flight schools, libraries, museums, arcades and lower contact indoor and outdoor recreation businesses, but none of those are applicable to the town, it’s strictly the gyms.
Though she was aware of one cluster event that involved a family party, other than that, McNally explained she didn’t have any specific information. East Longmeadow is in the reactionary polls where they’re dealing with the notifications from the state about the positive test results.
“What we’re asking people to do is to follow the guidance from the health professionals,” McNally replied. “Consider the common good before your own convenience. That apparently is being ignored by some people and that’s contributing to the problem.”
McNally added, “All we can continue to do from the town’s point of view is urge compliance and urge people to wear a mask, stay away from other people, limit your inside gatherings and so on and so forth. It’s advice that has been repeated a hundred times and I’m sure people are tired of hearing it, but it remains a baseline for what we need to have to contain the spread of the virus.”