LYNN NEWS ROUND-UP
APRIL 2, 2021
See our COVID-19 related posts by clicking here.
CLICK HERE FOR FREE ELECTION COVERAGE
Lynn city buildings now reopened to the public. Click here for more info.
MA has advanced to Step 1 of Phase IV. Click here for more info.
COVID Vaccine Clinics available for Lynn Educators & essential workers
on April 3 10, & 11. Click here for more info.
Weekly COVID-19 numbers from Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health
READ LAST WEEK’S SUMMARY BY CLICKING HERE
Every week the MA Dept. of Public Health releases numbers for how COVID-19 has impacted the state, and we try to highlight some of these numbers so the community is informed about how COVID is impacting Lynn & the state. Their numbers factor in the past week as well as the week before, giving 2 weeks worth of data.
The City of Lynn officially entered the yellow COVID-19 risk category for the first time on March 12th, but returned to the red category last week. Since returning to the red Lynn’s numbers have gone back up very quickly, which is bad news for Lynn as we have been hit hard throughout the pandemic. In February Lynn passed 15,000 total cases and we currently stand at 16,575, an increase of 300 from last week.
Lynn currently has 375 active cases, up from 354 last week & 306 two weeks ago. New 24-hour cases have not risen above 61 & 13 people have died since March 1st, both statistics tredning in a positive direction for the city. You can view these trends for Lynn yourself on the City of Lynn’s COVID-19 dashboard by clicking here. You can click the icon in the top-right corner of each section to see it enlarged.
There is concern a lack of vaccine availability, the coming warmer weather, the return of youth sports, re-opening schools to in-person learning, & loosening restrictions could cause a spike in cases. After weeks of declining numbers the increase in Lynn & return to the red category proves these words of caution have been proven to have merit. With those factors in mind it is still recommended to take COVID-19 seriously until you’ve been fully vaccinated, & even after to still mask up and distance for at least a little while to help mitigate the spread to ensure those that aren’t able to get the vaccine yet remain healthy. Please read about the Lynn Tech vaccination site by clicking here.
The state of Massachusetts has also seen some negative trends continue this week. The average daily incidence rate per 100,000 for MA this week was 25.6 while for the past 4 weeks it was 21.5, 19.5, 20.3, & 23.3. The positivity rate this week was 2.36% but the 4 weeks prior it had been 2.01%, 1.83%, 1.83%, & 1.93%. Earlier last month the number of communities in the red category had rapidly declined, reaching a low of 14, but we are now at 55. The number of communities in the yellow has fluctuated due to communities changing categories from red to yellow and yellow to green, but has remained below 200 for well over a month.
The United States currently has 30.6 million cases, & has consistently only been adding about 400K per week the last several weeks. There are currently 130 million cases reported worldwide, up from 126 million last week. Internationally cases have remained fairly constant, with at least 3million more a week for over a month. Increases in new cases in the U.S. have dropped significantly, but are still fluctating. At it’s height back in early January 300K+ new cases were reported with a 7-day average of 259,616. Yesterday 77,718 new cases were reported, with a 7-day average of 65,574.
The death toll in the US now sits at approx. 553K, while it was at 546K, 539K, 530K, & 520K the previous 4 weeks. This accounts for approx. 20% of the worldwide death toll and is second only to Brazil at 325K. The good news is that deaths are trending downwards, but are still comparable to numbers from the summer of 2020. Yesterday 955 were declared dead due to COVID-19, & the 7-day average for deaths sits at 893.
In Massachusetts there are currently 55 communities in the red category & 172 in the yellow category. The last 4 weeks there were 32, 20, 14, & 19 communities in the red. The last 4 weeks there were 179, 175, 181, 178 communities in the yellow.
The MA Department of Public Health continues to conduct surveillance for COVID-19 variants of concern including B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK), B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa) and P.1 (first identified in Brazil).
Surveillance, consisting of genetic sequencing on portions of COVID-19 positive specimens, has been ongoing in a collaboration between the Massachusetts State Public health Laboratory with clinical diagnostic laboratories and academic partners, including the CDC. Surveillance data so far has identified B.1.1.7 and the B.1.351 cases without any recent travel; it is critical to do everything possible to keep variants of concern from becoming widespread.
The public health risk reduction measures remain the same. Individuals must continue to wear masks or face coverings while out in public, maintain 6-foot social distancing, stay home when you are sick, and get tested if you have symptoms or are identified as a close contact
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Below are the statistics for Lynn & the state.
| City/Town | Total Case Count | Case Count (Last 14 Days) | Average Daily Incidence Rate per 100,000 (Last 14 days) | Relative Change in Case Counts | Total Tests | Total Tests (Last 14 days) | Total Positive Tests (Last 14 days) | Percent Positivity (Last 14 days) | Change in Percent Positivity |
| Lynn | 16,171 | 493 | 34.9 | Higher | 207,379 | 10,624 | 569 | 5.36% | Higher |
| STATEWIDE | 598,177 | 24,984 | 25.6 | Higher | 18,821,008 | 1,184,358 | 27,932 | 2.36% | Higher |
If you would like to find out full statistics for the entire state, including maps & town-by-town data, you can find the full weekly report from MA Dept. of Public Health by clicking here (link downloads a PDF).
Previous Weekly Public Health Reports can be found by clicking here.
All information above was obtained via official state & federal sources.
Find a mass vaccine location near you by clicking here. For phasing details and the most up-to-date vaccination timeline please click here.
A vaccination site has opened at Lynn Tech for Lynners.
Find out more & watch a video tour by clicking here.
Schedule an appointment by clicking here.
P-EBT being expanded
Current list of candidates for Lynn Mayoral, City Council, & School Committee races
Below is a list of all candidates who have taken out nomination papers so far. This list was provided to us by the City of Lynn Election Office & is current as of 1pm on April 2nd.
- MAYOR – Darren Cyr | Jared Nicolson (interview) | Michael Satterwhite (interview)
- COUNCILOR AT-LARGE – *Buzzy Barton | Jose Encarnacion | *Brian Field | Marven Hyppolite | *Brian LaPierre | Nicole McClain | *Hong Net
- WARD 1 – *Wayne Lozzi
- WARD 2 – *Rick Starbard
- WARD 3 – **Coco Alinsug
- WARD 4 – *Richard Colucci | Natasha Megie-Maddrey
- WARD 5 – *Dianna Chakoutis
- WARD 6 – *Fred Hogan
- WARD 7 – *Jay Walsh
- SCHOOL COMMITTEE – *Brian Castellanos | *Donna Coppola | Eric Dugan | *John Ford Jr. | *Lorraine Gately | Sandra Lopez | Tiffany Magnolia | Rocio Mora | Lenny Pena
* denotes an incumbent ** Currently on LCTV Board of Directors
FREE ELECTION COVERAGE
- List of all candidates who have taken out nomination papers
- Interactive map of polling locations
- Political calendar
- After June 28th: Candidates bios, campaign websites, & videos
- We will organize and broadcast our own forums, but will also attempt to film all forums that we are made aware of.
Baker-Polito Administration Announces Federal Funding Through Eviction Diversion Initiative
$80 million in rental assistance distributed to date; $400 million in new federal funding enables state to increase rental assistance to very-low and low-income renters, and cover utilities and other housing costs
Today, the Baker-Polito Administration announced that more than $400 million in new federal funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act is now available through the Administration’s Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI). First launched in October 2020, EDI consists of a comprehensive set of resources that serves individuals, families and landlords in crisis with financial aid, free and low-cost legal aid and community mediation to keep people in their homes. With a focus on preserving housing stability, the Baker-Polito Administration has distributed approximately $80 million in state rental assistance to more than 18,000 households since the beginning of the State of Emergency (data available via public dashboard).
As a result of extensive coordination detailed below, these efforts have contributed to the mitigation of the anticipated crisis in evictions. Information tracked by the Massachusetts Trial Court shows a total of 626 executions issued in residential eviction cases from October 18, 2020 through March 28, 2021 for cases filed after the state moratorium. This represents a reduction of nearly 85% compared to the number of executions issued in residential eviction cases during the same span of time one year prior (3,807).
The infusion of more than $400 million in federal resources, which is expected to be supplemented by hundreds of millions in additional dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act, allows the Commonwealth to provide longer-term relief to low-income renters and landlords in crisis, while implementing system efficiencies and processes for the future. This additional funding, and the flexibility created by federal regulations, enables the Commonwealth to expand aid to more households, provide deeper and longer-term assistance to households, and help households with utility payments. The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has been investing heavily in and working closely with regional administering agencies (RAAs) and the Rental Assistance Processing (RAP) Center to incorporate the new Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funding into existing delivery service models for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) and Emergency Rental and Mortgage Assistance (ERMA) programs.
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The above is a condensed version of the full press release.
Please click here to read the press release in full.
The above press release is courtesy of Governor Baker’s office.
If you have a news story that you would like to share, please contact us via email or call 781-780-9460.
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