After sending an emergency letter last week backed up by hospital, non-profit and state leaders, City Manager Tom Ambrosino said state government had responded in a major way to the requests.
“It was the letter that advocated for the services and the numbers are shockingly bad in Chelsea,” he said Wednesday morning. “Governor Baker really came through and has mobilized a lot of people to help us. They’ve given us the full support of the National Guard with food and testing services for everyone and support for the Quality Inn opening up today. I don’t know what they did behind the scenes, but I think there was a lot of push.”
State Rep. Dan Ryan, who also signed the letter, said they responded admirably after the emergency letter.
“This country and Commonwealth were not ready to respond to this pandemic,” he said. “That being the case, the people of Chelsea along with City Manager Ambrosino, the City Council, School Committee, first responders and medical personnel have responded admirably. I want to thank Governor Baker and Secretary Sudders for being on the ground early as the Soldiers’ Home and other group elderly settings became the first real causes for alarm. The administration’s familiarity with the City was essential to their ability to respond to our letter.
“As testing becomes more readily available the numbers of those testing positive will naturally go up,” he continued. “We must look at that increase in numbers as a sign that we are properly identifying infection and playing offense against this disease. Chelsea has the historical spirit, and now some of the resources, to be a beacon of hope and resiliency in this trying type.”
Supt. Almi Abeyta said the groundwork done by so many stakeholders in the City prior to the state help arriving this week was a great blueprint. For her, she needed volunteers to help hand out food to students at their meal distribution sites.
“There was already such support in place,” she said. “Now that the governor has stepped in to help, it’s even better. The nice thing is that so many things were laid out so well that there is now a clear vision for the governor to follow. I needed volunteers desperately to help serve our meals. We have systems in place; we just need volunteers from MEMA, and we have them now.”
One of the biggest challenges to the city day by day was the threat of people going hungry as the food supply and delivery systems had been overwhelmed. A critical promise to Chelsea was for MEMA to mobilize the National Guard, with volunteers from the Salvation Army, to begin help in meeting the food supply and distribution needs.
One of the biggest recipients will be Supt. Abeyta. They are serving on average 2,500 breakfasts per week, and 2,500 lunches per week – and the need is growing every week. All told they have now served 40,000 breakfasts and 40,000 lunches since March 16.
Ambrosino said he expects the National Guard could begin work here as soon as Thursday.
“We think the National Guard may be in the City as early as tomorrow,” he said on Wednesday. “The goal is, by Friday, to have the National Guard ready to assist in the delivery of as many as 750 boxes of food and cleaning supplies that would last each deliveree a full week. This will have a huge and beneficial impact on our ability to meet the basic food needs of our residents. Although the City has from the start been buttressing the work of existing food pantries and actually delivering food/supplies on our own through the work of employees and volunteers, it is obvious that the resources of the National Guard will make a huge difference in the scale of what we can accomplish.”
He did caution that having people in uniform going in and around Chelsea could cause concern in some of the immigrant population. Messaging through many resources and platforms has gone out to try to ease those concerns and make it known the effort is purely humanitarian. They are not ICE agents, he affirmed.
The second major development revolves around testing for COVID-19 in a collaboration between MGH, Beth Israel and the Department of Public Health (DPH).
MGH and Beth Israel are now committing to testing anyone in Chelsea who has symptoms, whether they are a patient of the hospital or not.
“MGH can test up to 300 people per day,” he said. “Anyone in Chelsea that’s symptomatic can get a test. MGH will take walk-ins, but appointments are encouraged. Beth Israel is doing the same thing at a drive-up testing site. They are testing everyone who is symptomatic, but they do require an appointment.”
The number for MGH, located on Everett Avenue, is 617-724-7000 for an appointment. There is no need to be an MGH patient, have insurance or be documented.
Beth Israel this week opened a Drive-Thru testing facility at its 1000 Broadway, Chelsea location next to Walgreens. This location does require an appointment and one must have symptoms. But, like MGH, there is no need to be an existing patient, don’t need insurance, and documentation status is irrelevant. One must call first for an appointment. The number there is 617-975-6262.
The DPH – with MGH and Fallon – is supporting the effort as well by conducting mobile testing at hot spot buildings in the City – particularly senior citizen housing where there are large buildings with vulnerable populations. Already, they have tested everyone at 260 Clark Ave. and 14 Bloomingdale. They plan to do the other buildings Thursday – particularly 885 Broadway. If this round of mobile testing is successful, they will expand it to other hot spots in the city.
“That effort is testing everyone in the building, symptoms or no symptoms,” he said. “ It’s to see who needs to be in isolation. The issue is very serious in every building with elderly. You can assume every building with large populations of elderly people have a lot of the virus in them.”
Finally, following up on last week’s story about securing the Quality Inn on Rt. 1 in Revere, Ambrosino and Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo announced late on Wednesday they have secured the facility for alternative housing.
Last week, Ambrosino told the Record they were working with Revere and Everett to secure the hotel on their own dime. Now, the state has backstopped the effort. The 100 rooms at the hotel will mostly be used by Revere and Chelsea, but Everett will be able to use some of them if they truly need it – though they are working with Cambridge right now as a primary effort.
The issue came front and center for Ambrosino when a person with COVID-19 was diagnosed and hospitalized. They were living in a shaky housing situation with extended family, and were not allowed to come back to that home – leaving the person sick and homeless. The hotel on Rt. 1 will be able to handle those kinds of cases, and Ambrosino expects several more of those to come up.
“This will hopefully be sufficient to meet the need over the next week or so,” he said. “If the need expands, DPH has opened another hotel in Cambridge which will also be available to Chelsea residents. We expect that the Quality Inn will be ready to take its first guests from Chelsea starting Thursday.”
As the needs have increased, so too has the help from the state, but primarily it is those in the community stepping up to help. Ambrosino said he has learned something important about Chelsea through this continuing turmoil.
“I always knew Chelsea had incredible community-based organizations, but I am amazed in the way the community has risen to the challenge more times than I can count,” he said. “Our elected officials – our City Council – has been so supportive. It’s been heartwarming to see how the community has come together like never before. It leads me to believe this city will be better when we emerge from this.”