LYNN NEWS ROUND-UP
AUGUST 5, 2020

See our other COVID-19 related posts by clicking here.

2020 Census ending Sept 30th, 1 month earlier than expected

According to City Clerk & Chief of Election Janet Rowe the City of Lynn is now up to an estimated 58.7% Census completion rate. This comes as the U.S. Census Bureau announced on Monday that the 2020 Census field collection and self-response options will end one month early on September 30^th..

This shortened time from the original  October 31^st deadline raises urgency for us to take collective action to overcome the challenge and achieve our accurate count. With approximately 40% of households across the country still uncounted, and already delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau now has less than two months left to try to reach people of color, immigrants, tenants, rural residents and other members of historically less counted countries groups likely not to complete a census form on their own.

Rowe says “Our office currently has students dropping flyers in our ‘hard to count” areas in hopes people will use the phone numbers to call (15 languages provided) or go on the Census website to answer.”

Census data guides how more than $675 billion of federal funding is distributed to states and communities each year. Every person counted means $2400 goes to the City of Lynn every year for the next 10 years. This means that if the City of Lynn counts at least 100K people we would receive $240million in Federal funding every year, or $2.4billion. This money will be able to go towards infrastructure improvements, schools, section 8 housing, free & reduced lunch for kids, and much more to improve everyone’s quality of life.

Many in the country are worried that their citizenship status will come into play with the 2020 Census. Not only are there no questions regarding citizenship or immigration, but your answers are kept confidential for 72 years after the Census. Answers are used for statistical purposes only. This means that answers from the Census taken in the 1940 Census were only made available 8 years ago. The results of the 2020 Census won’t be available until 2092.

The Census data also determines how many representatives each state gets in Congress, and much more. We detail many of the benefits of the Census in this short video we produced earlier this year.

BLM event this Friday in Lynn

A Black Lives Matter event is being held this Friday, August 7th at 3:30pm . They will march from NSCC to the Lynn Common Bandstand and have some guest speakers & performances.

Lynn Public Schools announces Virtual Town Halls

Dear Lynn Public Schools Families,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing simply to invite you to our virtual town hall. Information and links can be found below.

Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 6:00 P.M.

This Lynn Public Schools community convening will focus on elements of reopening the Lynn Public Schools related to health and safety. General updates will also be shared. Participants can participate using the chat feature.

Watch in English or Spanish on YouTube.

Free trees for select Lynn neighborhoods

From the Community Path of Lynn Coalition on Facebook: The CPC and DCR are beginning to plant trees along the path to provide privacy for our abutters. We are also looking for homeowners located in the Summer Street to Bennett St zone of Lynn who would like Free Trees planted on their property!

No worries about maintenance!! DCR shows all homeowners how to care for their new trees. Please feel free to contact us or DCR for more information!

Click images above for their full-resolution images.

My Brother’s Table Soup Kitchen to Hold September Raffle (virtual fundraiser)

Local charity, which has recently seen a dramatic increase in meals served, to raise much-needed funds and give away a prize a day.

My Brother’s Table Soup Kitchen (MBT), located in Lynn, MA, will hold a raffle throughout September with a winner every day.

Prizes include restaurant gift cards, scratch tickets and more! Each ticket purchased gives you 30 chances to win. Every day in September, a name will be drawn and that lucky person wins that day’s prize. Winning tickets will be reentered into the raffle, allowing the possibility of winning more than once.

Raffle tickets are priced at $30 for one, $50 for two and $100 for five. Winners will be notified via email and announced daily on the My Brother’s Table website and social media platforms.

Tickets are on sale now! Get yours before the first drawing. To purchase tickets online please click here. To purchase tickets by cash or check, please mail to 98 Willow Street, Lynn MA 01901 and include your contact information in the memo line. Winners will be notified via email.

The raffle is sponsored by North Shore Medical Center, Salem Five Bank, Institution For Savings Bank, Eaton Vance, MG+M The Law Firm and Knights of Pythias.

Since 1982, MBT, the largest soup kitchen on the North Shore, has served over four million free, hot meals to women, men and children in need. The need has grown dramatically recently. Since the start of 2020, MBT has served 257,000 meals, surpassing the 204,770 meals it served throughout 2019. In June 2020 alone, it distributed 86,446 meals compared to 16,980 during June of last year.

MBT’s mission is to nourish its community everyday through hospitality, free meals and unconditional love. It is privately funded and does not receive or seek federal, state or local aid to insure the privacy of its guests and to serve the greatest number of people in need. Funding comes from individual donations, events and private grants. MBT also relies heavily on donated food from supermarkets, restaurants, food drives and individuals.

Updates from state government

• As of Tuesday night, DPH reported a total of 111,033 cases of COVID-19. The state has now confirmed a total of 8,436 deaths from the virus.
• Governor Baker threatened Tuesday that he may cut the allowable gathering size below its current limit or revive restrictions on businesses if a slight jump in new COVID-19 cases accelerates into more substantial spread. The governor did not outline a clear set of criteria that would prompt new orders from his administration, but after hinting last week that he was reviewing state guidance on how many people could safely gather at a single event, Governor Baker said his administration is “not taking any options off the table.”
• Most travelers entering Massachusetts from Rhode Island will soon be ordered to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival unless they recently tested negative for COVID-19, the Baker administration announced Tuesday. The state Department of Public Health tweeted Tuesday evening that, starting on Friday, Aug. 7, Rhode Island will be removed from a list of eight low-risk states exempt from the travel order, citing “increases in both RI’s positive test rate and cases per 100,000. Read more about the travel order by clicking here.
• Massachusetts is among seven states that are entering formal talks with manufacturers with the goal of facilitating rapid point-of-care antigen tests that could more quickly detect COVID-19 outbreaks in workplaces, schools and congregate care settings. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who announced the interstate testing compact Tuesday, negotiated the agreement with the Rockefeller Foundation in his final days as chairman of the National Governors Association. Plans call for each state to purchase 500,000 tests. The governors of Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia are also in the compact, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced his intent to join Tuesday after the compact was initially announced with the release of a formal but nonbinding letter of intent. The states are in talks with Becton Dickinson and Quidel, the U.S. manufacturers of the antigen tests, to purchase more than 3 million total tests, which Hogan’s office says can deliver results in 15 to 20 minutes.
• Governor Baker signed a $16.53 billion interim budget on Tuesday that will keep state government operating through at least the end of October, but he rejected a firm deadline of Oct. 31 for the funding to expire and said the Legislature’s attempt to impose minimum spending requirements would “unduly” limit his authority to manage state spending over the next three months. The governor’s signature on the bulk of the spending bill ensures that the Legislature will not have to return until at least the fall to either debate and pass a fiscal 2021 spending bill, or approve another extension that would push decisions on new taxes, spending cuts or the use of reserves until after the elections.
• State education officials are reviewing school districts’ initial reopening plans and expect to issue guidance on athletics and extracurricular activities next week, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Tuesday. Speaking during a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce panel on school reopenings, Riley said his department will return feedback to districts on their plans this week so school committees can vote on reopening plans. The Baker administration’s school reopening guidance calls for districts to prepare for three models of instruction, entirely in-person, entirely remote, and a hybrid, and to submit preliminary plans to the Department of Elementary and Secondary by last Friday. Final plans are due by August 10.
• A new law will require public schools with large populations of low-income students to provide breakfast after the school day begins in an effort to address childhood hunger and give all students a chance to succeed in school. The so-called “Breakfast After the Bell” bill was signed Tuesday by Governor Baker.
• The governor also signed a resolve to erect a memorial in the House chamber containing the text of the speech Martin Luther King Jr. delivered on April 22, 1965 to a joint assembly of the House and Senate.

Special thanks to MassAccess for the above information.

From Mayor McGee’s office: The Lynn Public Health Department has confirmed that as of today, the number of active, confirmed positive COVID-19 cases is 570 with 32 new cases today. 3,394 Lynn residents have recovered and 111 have died. The total number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Lynn since March 21, 2020, including those who have died and recovered, is 4,075. Please visit the new City of Lynn COVID-19 Data Dashboard which is updated daily.

STOP THE SPREAD Initiative

Please visit http://www.ci.lynn.ma.us/covid19/resources.shtml#p7GPc1_2 for more information on how you can get a free COVID-19 test in the City of Lynn through August 14th.

We will continue to provide regular updates on COVID-19 through the City website (www.lynnma.gov), social media, and the Smart 911 emergency notification system (sign up at www.smart911.com).