$1M for COVID-19 Testing
During a press conference on May 22, 2010, at Lawrence General Hospital, Mayor Daniel Rivera announced that the City is granting one million dollars to Lawrence General Hospital to test 1,000 people each day. He said they’ll be testing 5 days a week for the general public from 9 am to 5 pm.
“Lawrence is currently a hotspot for Coronavirus cases, 5th in the state for total people affected and 4th per-capita…” said Mayor Rivera. “…Until we stood up this testing site, roughly 180 tests per day were being conducted on Lawrence residents. Testing 1,000 residents per day ensures our community has ample access to testing.”
At the press conference there was the usual parade of politicians taking turns at the mic. Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, State Representatives Frank Moran and Christina Miniccucci, State Senator Barry Finegold and, of course, Dan Rivera. Also speaking were Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, Deborah Wilson, President and CEO of Lawrence General Hospital.
Then I checked the press release the mayor’s office sent me and it contained a statement from John Silva, President of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. He was present but did not speak. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was by choice because the program only said Representatives from Greater Lawrence Family Health Center.
Mr. Silva statement in the press release said in part, “We are especially proud to be taking an active role in leading the contact tracing efforts launched this week…” Also, “These collective efforts will hopefully help to flatten the curve here in Lawrence and decrease the number of positive cases amongst our patient population and the Lawrence community.”
I’m not good at math but I thought that we probably have at least 70,000 residents that have not been tested and it will take 70 days to do the entire city. First, I asked Inspectional Services Director Michael Armano if he had the numbers that were done up to that point. He responded that the State Lab collects all testing data but I couldn’t find any figures for Lawrence on their website.
Mr. Armano also suggested, “The testing locations may be able to individually share the testing numbers at their site.” So, I decided to stop by the tents at 1 Canal St.
They have eight lanes for Lawrence residents and one lane for other cities and towns. Only two aisles were being used with two cars inside to be tested. It was two o’clock in the afternoon and no more cars waiting in the parking lot. It was obvious that at that pace, there’s no way they could do 1,000 tests per day. Later on, someone told me unofficially, that they average 150 tests daily.
Violating the mask rule
Lawrencians have not been obedient in following the recommendations for their safety. People have continued having gatherings, cookouts and not wearing their masks and it won’t surprise me if the numbers for positive cases go up. A side effect of being tested is that once the results are in, those found to be negative become even more careless abandoning the social distancing and masks rules. The protests we have seen all over the country clearly showed what I mean.
Here, a city ordinance has established a fine of $300 to anyone caught without his or her mask yet, the mayor called for a “Peace Rally” on Sunday at Campagnone Common. Did you notice the distance people were keeping or how many didn’t wear a mask?
I wonder if they were giving $300 fines to anyone but the rules are made for the minions and permitted to be violated when they suit the mayor’s purpose.
My suspicions were correct; the Boston Globe on Sunday revealed that the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 304 from Saturday’s numbers.
Helping the homeless
At a recent meeting of the Lawrence City Council, Vilma Martinez Dominguez, director of Community Development reported of how the city is handling the homeless problem. I pay attention when I hear them talk about homelessness and then question if it’s true.
Sure, lots of money is being spent under that category and who am I to doubt it? But when I heard that they are working with the House of Mercy, I was surprised.
I paid a visit to Roger Farah and spoke to several people there. Their answer to my question of how much assistance they are getting from the city was the same from all of them, “Nothing!”
One of the volunteers quickly made a correction. A few times they received a call to go pick up food at the Methuen hotel and each time they received 15-20 sandwiches or Styrofoam containers of leftover food, usually from the day before.
We must wonder how much of the city expenses will be allocated to the House of Mercy.
