WESTFIELD – On April 1, Mayor Don Humason and other city officials hosted a press conference to detail Westfield’s current efforts in combating the effects of COVID-19, before Congressman Richard Neal announced additional funding for the city on April 2.

Humason explained that with the rest of the country, residents need to stay inside and follow the ongoing guidelines from the government. He said, “I think it’s time to step up our rhetoric and say to people, ‘Stay home, follow the protocols, if you’re sick stay home, wash your hands repeatedly and stay away from other people.’”

He stressed that the time off some residents may have from work is not a vacation and they need to stay home. “The biggest thing we’re finding is as the weather improves, people are considering this as some sort of vacation; it is not. We need to give ourselves the time to keep ourselves apart to make sure the virus doesn’t continue to spread,” he said.

Humason also thanked the city’s employees in the conference call for their efforts fighting the virus. “I want to say thank you to everyone here in this conference call because these are the warriors on the frontlines in Westfield. Every single one of them is up to the task and has an idea in mind to help the people in the city and our first responders,” he said.

After Humason’s comments the city’s Public Health Director Joe Rousse took the floor to talk about some of the specific strategies the city was employing to keep infections down. Rousse started by explaining why the city was transparent about the number of cases, which was 81 as of the conference. As of press time on April 6, the number had increased to 127.

“We decided to put this number out to be as transparent and honest as we can with the people of the city,” he said, “It may look like our numbers are out of whack in comparison to neighboring communities, but the assistant public health commissioner at the state assured me our numbers are what are expected and consistent with the numbers of our neighboring communities.”

After Rousse spoke, Jim Wiggs, the director of Westfield’s Emergency Management Agency, discussed what they were doing to fight the virus. He said, “We’ve been receiving supplies from MEMA, as departments reach out as they need supplies, we’ve been getting masks, gloves and sanitizers out to the departments so they can continue to operate. I do host a daily conference call to pull the departments together to see where we’re at.”

Westfield Fire Chief Patrick Egloff then stressed residents to call the dispatch center for emergencies only. “The ambulance service needs to remain ready for calls involving COVID-19 that need hospital intervention. The more calls that first responders go to that do not involve an emergency, the likelihood they may become infected goes up,” he said.

He added that in order to stay on top of cases in the department, they are taking the temperatures of all fire fighters at every shift change.

In order to continue the fight against the coronavirus, Neal also announced on April 2 that the city would be receiving $216,737 as a part of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). The press release explained that the funding could be used for a variety of programs to combat COVID-19’s effects, including buildings and improvements, assistance to businesses, and public services.
As of press time, there was no update on what projects the CDBG funding would be used.