Health & Fitness
Coronavirus: Medford Declares Local State Of Emergency
The declaration will facilitate and expedite the use of resources to protect residents from the spread of COVID-19, the city said.
MEDFORD, MA — Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has declared a local state of emergency in Medford, the city announced Monday. The declaration allows the city to take additional steps to prepare for, respond to and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including facilitating and expediting the use of resources.
The declaration also allows the city to incur expenses under Chapter 44, Section 31 of state law, which prohibits municipal departments to exceed their appropriated funding, except in cases of major disaster.
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Medford has two presumptive positive cases of COVID-19, the illness associated with the coronavirus. One case is linked to the Biogen conference in Boston last month, and the other is a Tufts University student, according to the city. Presumptive positive means the CDC still has to verify the test results.
Neighboring Somerville, which declared its own local state of emergency Sunday, has three presumptive positive cases.
Find out what's happening in Medfordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The local state of emergency will remain in effect until further notice.
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