SPRINGFIELD – As part of an ongoing effort to keep the public informed amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno hosted a press conference on April 6 to give updates concerning city services and education.

Sarno began the conference by expressing his condolences to the four families in Springfield that had lost loved ones due to coronavirus. He, along with everyone else who spoke during the conference, also offered condolences to Rep. Bud Williams, whose son Kamari had recently passed away. He then went on to say the Springfield Police Department was down 24 members, the city’s school district had distributed more than 100,000 meals and the city had pushed back the due date of real estate taxes. He added that the school district would be distributing 10,000 laptops to students “to continue our education process.”

Additionally, Sarno said the city had been diligently tracking how much money had been spent fighting the pandemic and the city would try “to recoup every dime.” So far, he said the city had spent $670,000, and while city services would continue to operate, they were down $1,000,000 in revenue.

Sarno said 30 restaurants had received grants from the city totaling $225,000. He said he wished he could have given the grant to each of the 90 restaurants and small businesses that had applied for the grant, but a new round of grants totaling $500,000 would soon be announced and those who hadn’t been accepted should apply again.

On April 3, Sarno and his administration announced new recommendations in conjunction with updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, asking residents to wear face coverings when out in public. He touched on this recommendation during the meeting, emphasizing that those wearing face covering should avoid using professional, medical-grade masks.

“With the face covering, professional masks need to stay with our first responders,” and medical professionals, he said. Examples of acceptable face coverings Sarno gave for those who need to go out in public include bandanas, scarves and even a t-shirt.

One point continually emphasized throughout the conference not only by Sarno, but local health officials, was that the face coverings should not take the place of other practices recommended by the CDC such as hand washing, social distancing and self-isolation if feeling sick. President and Chief Executive Officer of Baystate Health, Dr. Mark Keroack; Mercy Medical Centers’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Robert Roose; and Springfield’s Health and Human Services Commissioner, Helen Caulton-Harris also each echoed the need to continue personal hygiene and social distancing practices.

Keroack, who was wearing a homemade face mask himself, explained the use of the face covering was to protect others from the potential spread of the virus unknowingly. “The CDC basically noticed that in some cases, people might be shedding the virus in some days before they get sick. I’m doing this to protect you,” he said.

However, Keroack said he was not disinfecting groceries and said he believed the virus would look very different if it was spread through objects, and that the virus gets “passed on through close personal contact.”

 “I am not spending my time disinfecting groceries and vegetables when I get home,” he explained. Keroack also acknowledged the death of Judith “Judy” Plotkin-Goldberg, who served as the first-ever female chair of the board at Baystate. Plotkin-Goldberg was one of the four individuals from Springfield who died due to coronavirus-related complications.

Keroack also announced that Baystate would officially begin coronavirus testing at their Holyoke facility sometime during the week of April 6, and that they were hoping to announce centers for drive-through testing in the near-future.  He said as of the morning of April 6, more than 2,000 individuals had been tested so far at Baystate, 471 had tested positive and 32 tests were pending. While 43 people “required critical care,” Keroack offered positive news when he announced that “one-third of the people, including those on mechanical ventilation, have been able to be discharged and sent home.”

Another step the hospital has taken is hiring coaches to advise employees on how to properly take off their personal protective equipment (PPE) after use. “Technique is just as critical,” he said. While there had not been a spread of coronavirus within healthcare employees, Keroack said some employees had been ill with the virus “but got it through the community.”

He said that on the morning of April 6 Baystate officials, along with Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) officials were doing a walk through of the MassMutual Center to see how it may fit into the treatment of coronavirus patients. Additionally, he cited several models that suggested the peak of the virus in Western Massachusetts may come later than was originally anticipated, in May or early June. He did, however, emphasize that while every model may end up being wrong, they were still useful for planning purposes.

When asked about a tiger at the zoo in New York City that had tested positive for the virus, Keroack said he didn’t think it was especially significant. “We know the coronavirus exists in animals. Just because something is possible doesn’t mean it’s something important in terms of transmission,” he said. “Rather than imagining what might happen if it lives on some animal, you look at how the case is spread.”

Roose, who also took the podium wearing a homemade mask, echoed that the use of the mask was not to negate hand washing, social distancing and isolation when feeling sick. He said as of the morning of April 6, Mercy had tested a total of 1,209 patients with 274 patients testing positive and 747 patients testing negative. So far they had a single undetermined test and 187 patients that were waiting on test results.

He said the significant increase in the number of positive patients for Mercy was due to the incorporation of all positive results, not just the results of those treated in emergency rooms. He then reflected on comments made by the Surgeon General, who had said the upcoming week would be a difficult and sad one for many Americans calling it our “Pearl Harbor moment” and our “9/11 moment.”

“This is going to be a hard week, but it is going to be a pivotal week,” Roose said. “It can be as simple as following social distancing guidelines, washing your hands. It’s what you do today, this week and over the next few weeks that can truly change the course of history.”

Next, Caulton-Harris took the podium. She said while she had said on March 6 there had been no cases of the virus in the city, on the morning of the conference, April 6, there were 221 positive cases in Springfield. The cases, she said, were not isolated to one area of the city. “Every zip code in our city is represented,” she said.

She echoed the importance of social distancing and good hygiene and said while there had been a lot of deaths predicted in a variety of models done by experts, “we do not have to reach the modeling numbers if we do the work that is necessary.”

Caulton-Harris added that she was still encountering young people who didn’t think they would be impacted by the virus, and cited the numbers of those under the age of 60 affected by coronavirus. “Every age group is represented in significant numbers,” she said. She then warned stores that were deemed non-essential to remain closed, as she’d heard some were allowing patrons when they shouldn’t be.

Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood also offered good news as she said while 24 officers were out with coronavirus-related illnesses, two officers had fully recovered and had been cleared to return to work. “One returned, one [is] returning today who tested positive for COVID, fought through it and are medically cleared to come back,” she said. Her news was met with a round of applause from those in the room.