Newton Coronavirus: Mayor Declares State Of Emergency

NEWTON, MA — Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller declared a local "State of Emergency" in Newton Tuesday, joining a number of other local municipalities declaring similar local emergencies across the commonwealth as they struggle to deal with the spread of the new coronavirus.

"The situation with COVID-19 is serious and demands a serious response," Fuller said in her emailed announcement.

A State of Emergency helps the city make quicker decisions and lets them more easily get reimbursed from the Federal and State governments.

"We are living in a fast-moving, new reality, and the human impact is stark," said Fuller. "Many of us are working from home, and for some of us, office and workplace closings have meant no paycheck."

The announcement comes the same day the state announced the number of cases of coronavirus is up to 218 across the commonwealth. The updated numbers come as the governor announced Tuesday that all cases that previously categorized as presumptive positive will now be considered positive. Of the 218 cases as of Tuesday, 89 of them were situated in Middlesex County.

Of the total number of cases across the state, 102 of them are believed to have come from the Biogen conference in Boston in February, 33 of the cases are deemed to have come from "local transmission," and 24 are related to travel. Some 59 cases are still under investigation.

In addition to those with the virus, communities are also keeping tabs on people in self quarantine.

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Health officials say the reason for such precaution, and the social distancing is to help slow the spread of the virus. Gov. Charlie Baker has repeatedly urged residents not to treat the new regulations - from working at home, to canceled school to no dine-in restaurants to not gathering in groups of more than 10 people - as if it were a vacation.

"We must all immediately and rigorously practice social distancing," echoed Fuller.

"We are at a critical time in Newton and in the Commonwealth where each of us must take every action possible to protect our neighbors, to reduce the spread of this novel coronavirus and to try to prevent an overload on our hospitals, doctors and nurses, and other medical first responders," she said.

Social distancing means avoiding any group setting of people other than your household members unless you can be six feet away from them.

Health and government officials say you should not have your children interact with children from other households, unless they are six feet away.

If you need to go to the grocery store, drug store, a bank or a gas station, follow social distancing guidelines by going at off hours and keeping as much distance as possible from other shoppers and employees. A better option is to use take-out or delivery services with social distancing practices when picking up or accepting delivery, the mayor said.

The CDC also advises that you wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water, especially before and after being in public places.

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