Merrimack College To Pay $1k/Week For North Andover Nurses

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — Merrimack College is paying North Andover $1,000 per week for the remainder of the school year to offset the town's costs of dealing with coronavirus cases at the college, town officials said Monday.

The college paid $14,000 for Nov., Dec. and Jan. and will continue to pay $4,000 at the start of each month for the rest of the school year, for a total of $26,000.

"It has allowed us to have nurses dealing specifically with Merrimack, which has freed up other staff to deal with other contact tracing," Town Manager Melissa Murphy-Rodrigues told the Select Board at their meeting Monday.

In October, school officials were grilled by the Select Board after an outbreak at the college pushed the town into the state's high risk or red category, imposing additional restrictions on town businesses.

"I was pretty tough on Merrimack College," Select Board Member Rosemary Smedile said. "But at the end of speaking pretty firmly with the school, I did say that the town and Merrimack College have enjoyed a pretty good relationship ... This is exactly what I was referring to."

"We appreciate that partnership with Merrimack," Board Chair Chris Nobile said.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.