The Village of Pelham Manor this week launched a Covid-19 information hub on its website in an effort to consolidate resources for residents regarding necessary precautions and other relevant information amid the continued rise in infections.

Pelham Manor Trustee Maurice Owen-Michaane said the page is meant to be a “robust, one-stop destination” for information on Covid-19 testing, guidelines and recommendations on the local, state and national levels. 

The site was in progress last Friday and went live early Monday. Since then, minor updates have been made to create a user-friendly experience and publish important information.

Owen-Michaane said that on Facebook groups like Parents of Pelham, he had consistently seen community members asking where they could find Covid-19 testing sites. Because this question is so frequently asked, he said, one of the first items on the new hub was a testing-center locator. According to Owen-Michanne, residents can enter their zip code and find “almost a dozen places in the immediate vicinity” where testing is available. This embedded app was taken directly from the New York State Department of Health. The site now also provides an option to book testing appointments directly.

Rather than creating its own data dashboard, Pelham Manor is offering a central listing for other important websites: the New York State Department of Health, Westchester County Geographic Information Systems, Johns Hopkins University Global Dashboard and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The page includes mobile-friendly links in order to increase accessibility for residents and provide them with information beyond “just the daily numbers,” Owen-Michaane said.

“This is about empowering our residents to have all the information and tools they need to be vigilant,” he said. “In 2021, where people want immediate answers, this is our best attempt to give residents… the transparency on (Covid-19) that is not necessarily out there.”

The hub currently displays information regarding vaccination eligibility, Covid-19 testing (including all documents required for testing), travel advisory and quarantine guidelines, as well as mental health resources and data dashboards. A recent update added links to meal support resources and informational CDC videos.