As of today, 514 Cambridge residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and 17 residents have passed away. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/2J2BnQj. There are 36,372 cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts, including 8,297 in Middlesex County. 156,806 patients have been tested and 1,560 have passed away. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/34TBGqM.
Cambridge Updates
Tomorrow, 4/19, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation will not open Riverbend Park and will keep Memorial Drive open to vehicular traffic. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3afi0OV. For those concerned with the opening of Memorial Drive, this issue came up at my most recent town hall on Wednesday. The following is a link to town hall which featured, among others, the Cambridge Health Alliance's Chief Infectious Disease Physician Dr. Lou Ann Bruno-Murtha (CHA, for those who may not know, has the largest number of COVID-19 infected patients in acute care and on ventilators compared with hospitals of comparable size) and Professor Bill Hanage, a Cambridge resident and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Professor, discussing why during the COVID-19 medical surge is not the time to open up Memorial Drive: https://bit.ly/34NRJ9B. I ask that we honor the professionals on the front lines and those familiar with this disease and continue to err on the side of caution and continue to shelter in place. These decisions can be re-evaluated once we move through the first medical surge.
If you are in need of housing assistance or resources, you can call the City of Cambridge's Housing Resource Line at 617-349-9777. The City has also posted resources on its website here: https://bit.ly/2z6Qjek.
Multilingual resources are always available on the City of Cambridge's website. This includes translated information on city resources and about COVID-19. You can find them here: https://bit.ly/2wKXAzA.
State Action Updates
Today, Governor Baker stated that Massachusetts is in the top five states nationally for COVID-19 testing per capita.
Governor Baker has advised people to not visit the Boston Marathon route or attempt to run the course on what would have been Marathon Monday, April 20th. The Boston Marathon is postponed to September 14th.
Where to donate
If you are able to give to others during this time, I encourage you to look to the following places that are working to help those most affected by COVID-19:
Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund: https://bit.ly/3bgTBJU
Cambridge Health Alliance: https://bit.ly/2vWegUB
Cambridge Community Foundation: https://bit.ly/33ImGeE
Food for Free: https://bit.ly/3afFuEE
Greater Boston Food Bank: https://www.gbfb.org/
Cradles to Crayons Emergency Essentials Fund: https://bit.ly/2WHOD4V
Enroot Emergency Immigrant Cash Assistance Fund: https://bit.ly/2y7bBIe
As always, do not hesitate to reach out to me with questions or concerns at Marjorie.Decker@mahouse.gov.
Sincerely,
Marjorie