Haverhill officials held an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon as coronavirus cases rise in the city, earning a high-risk designation for transmission from the state.
Haverhill is among 23 Massachusetts communities considered high-risk for transmitting COVID-19 in the state's latest data on the pandemic, putting the city in the red-zone on its community-level risk assessment map. The city's health department has reported 129 cases and 146 positive tests in the past two weeks.
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Mayor James Fiorentini called an emergency meeting with the Haverhill Board of Health to discuss the rise in cases and new protocols.
While no city-wide Halloween celebrations will be held this year, anyone who wants to trick-or-treat can do so in their neighborhoods as long as they take proper precautions, the mayor said.
Homeowners should also consider leaving candy out on a table to limit interactions, Fiorentini said.
There were 22 new COVID-19 cases reported Thursday in the city with at least 11 tied to a nursing home outbreak, the mayor said.
"We've been a totally green community up until now. All of a sudden we've seen a big jump in cases," Fiorentini said. "We've saw some of it connected with a house of worship, and some of it connected with a nursing home, and unfortunately some of those that began to spread into the community."
Due to the rising cases, all medium and high-risk youth sports are on hold for at least three weeks. Schools, for now, will remain on a hybrid model using a mix of remote and in-person learning, the mayor said.
All Haverhill restaurants are now being asked to start taking customer information for contact tracing, Fiorentini said. In addition, a mask-mandate is in place for the city's business district.
Plans are in place to step up testing efforts with help from the state. A free testing site will open at the corner of Winter and Locke Streets Thursday through Saturday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
