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As you are all no doubt aware, the pandemic situation has escalated significantly since last week’s newsletter. You should be getting regular and more frequent updates from Mayor Fuller (most city services will be online for the indefinite future, if not closed outright like the schools, library, and senior center), from the City’s Department of Health, from the Governor and state health officials, and from the US Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC recommendation is now toward canceling or postponing all “public” gatherings for the next eight weeks. They say that’s for gatherings of 50 people at the moment, but it is my educated guess that this will be lowered to a handful of people or less within a matter of days. (Update: By the time I finished writing this update, the US administration said 10 people was the cap.)
I think there has been a great deal of misinformation floating around in the public that this is not a serious illness for most people, or only for some people, and that it is fine to continue your normal daily life and to continue meeting up with friends & family who are not following any sort of isolation regime. This is unwise. This is not an influenza virus. It is an acute respiratory virus from a family of viruses that has often led to shockingly high mortality rates in past outbreaks prior to this one. People of all ages can get this virus and die from it, although our senior residents are much more likely to get sick and not be able to survive. Even people who get sick but are unlikely to die from it will probably require hospitalization, and this becomes a serious capacity issue (see below). It is the obligation of all of us not just to spread this infection to each other but also to try to delay the spread as long as possible so that hospitals do not become overwhelmed.
Massachusetts is one of the country’s hotspot areas, not just in terms of confirmed cases, but also our specific connections to the rest of the nation and world.
A large group of doctors who live in Newton last night sent an open letter to the Mayor, City Council, School Committee, Superintendent, and other Newton officials with the following warning:
"At the current pace of transmission, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute, more than 225,000 people in Massachusetts may need a bed, and 1 in 5 of those (45,000) may need an ICU bed. The state has 3,600 beds and 400 ICU beds at any time."
As you can see, it is imperative that if you are able to do so, you and your family isolate yourselves, no matter how healthy you currently feel. The difference in mortality rates between Italian cities that imposed strict isolation protocols immediately and those that did not has been like night and day. We also saw similar results in US cities in 1918 during the Spanish Flu.
Feel free to call me or email me any time with further questions. (Also if you live alone, I’m happy to speak to you by phone not just to see if you need anything but also just to make sure you have people to talk to and someone to check in with you regularly in case you run into medical difficulty.) Private citizens have also established a mutual aid signup sheet online where you can offer to help or request help from your fellow Newton citizens during this emergency.
You should no longer be waiting for a government official to tell you to stay home. Just do it.
A reasonable set of do’s and don’ts was included in the letter as well, which I’m suggesting you adopt on a personal basis without waiting for instructions from the government:
Strict Social Distancing - week of March 15, 2020
“Strict avoidance of ALL nonessential contact with other people is currently the only available tool to prevent ongoing transmission. The symptoms of coronavirus take 4-5 days to manifest, but during this time an infected person can transmit the virus.
In simple terms, act as if you and the people around you are asymptomatically infected and capable of transmitting the virus. Social distancing can not only help you and your family but is also the best way to help our health care system to manage this outbreak.”
Don’t host parties or play dates: The symptoms of coronavirus take four to five days to manifest themselves. Someone who comes over looking well can transmit the virus so even having only one friend over creates new links and possibilities for transmission.
Don’t go to movies, restaurants, religious services or other large gatherings.
Don’t go to playgrounds: Coronavirus can live on plastic and metal for up to nine days, and these public play structures aren’t getting regularly cleaned.
Don’t share food.
Don’t visit nursing homes or other areas where large numbers of the elderly reside: The elderly are at the highest risk for complications and mortality from coronavirus.
Don’t use public transportation unless you have no other alternative: If possible, travel during non peak times and make sure to wash hands before and after the trip.
Don’t hoard food, cleansers, or health supplies: Hoarding supplies negatively impacts others, including our health care workers and vulnerable neighbors. Buy what you need and leave some for everyone else.
DO - Call, text, and use social media to connect: Check in with friends and neighbors by phone or other technologies rather than in person. Clean your phone at least once a day.
Avoid crowds and gatherings of any size
When you go outside to go for a walk do your best to maintain at least six feet between you and non-family members.
Prepare your own food as much as possible: Use take-out or delivery only if necessary. Clean containers and wash hands before eating. Consider buying gift certificates for restaurants and other businesses, for future use.
Do be in communication with the elderly in your community and offer help as needed: Our elderly neighbors are at greater risk. Check in and see whether you can help them with things like groceries and other essentials. Wash your hands prior to handling any items you are going to drop off.
Request to work from home
When going out for essentials like groceries and health appointments, be mindful of your exposure. Shop at off-peak times and wash your hands before and after your trip. If possible, leave your kids at home.
Further steps
Unfortunately in Massachusetts, much of what we can do as a City is limited by state law. Council President Susan Albright and I have been working on a number of these problems over the weekend and last week, such as trying to get a suspension of residential evictions in our county (which the Courts finally ordered statewide on Saturday according to my friend State Rep. Mike Connolly who is one of the lead sponsors of the effort in the state legislature, which our own State Rep. Ruth Balser is also in favor of).
It is my view that the Governor, Legislature, Attorney General, and other relevant state authorities must implement the following emergency actions to deal with COVID-19 and the consequences of the outbreak in Massachusetts:
A suspension of all residential housing evictions except in cases of public safety (such as eviction domestic abusers) and the requisition of sufficient hotel space to provide temporary housing for every homeless and housing-insecure resident of the Commonwealth with a level of privacy allowing self-isolation for the emergency period.
Production and Requisition of medical supplies and equipment and hospital overflow space.
Requisition of food production infrastructure and payment to food service and delivery workers to provide coverage to food pantry users and recipients of free and reduced school lunches.
Prosecution of profiteering and excessive resource hoarding related to the pandemic including consumer goods.
Stronger orders to both adult and minor residents confining them at home and apart from other people.
Until the federal government does so, the Commonwealth should tap emergency funds to pay living wage stipends to any working-age member of the public to remain home during the state of emergency so that they can continue to cover their bills and be incentivized against doing non-essential work outside the home. (A tax cut or tax refund does not accomplish the objectives of a stay-at-home stipend because hourly-wage workers and independent contractors often do not receive any benefit.)
Medical data privacy should be maintained at all times to federal HIPAA standards, with no outsourcing to private companies not complying with HIPAA standards.
The deadline to file and pay Massachusetts taxes should automatically be extended by 6 months.
Require free treatment coverage without consumer cost-sharing for (not just testing of) COVID-19 and related illness through MassHealth, Massachusetts Health Connector insurance plans, state-subsidized private insurance plans, and all public employee health insurance plans. We applaud the steps already taken in this direction.
Improve humane treatment protocols in county jails and state prisons to contain the spread of infection, consider releasing more elderly inmates and detainees to appropriate and safe housing so that they can be more easily treated by the standard medical system, and reduce the number of people being jailed for minor non-violent offenses before or after trial as well as for technical violations of parole and probation to lower the number of residents cycling quickly into jails and back out into communities, which would be likely to accelerate transmission of contagious disease unnecessarily.
My City Council colleagues are currently considering signing a letter to that effect.
Virtual meetings of the City Council (how to follow along)
Last week the Governor made an emergency suspension of Open Meeting Law provisions that had prohibited bodies like City Councils and Neighborhood Area Councils (as well as many commissions) from meeting remotely without a physical quorum present in the room. Therefore, all of our meetings have been moved online, starting with today’s committee & full council meetings.
The public is urged to submit public comments on anything via email primary (citycouncil@newtonma.gov) but then by participating in the electronic Zoom meetings if you feel that you need to submit a comment verbally as you would do at a normal meeting. Please note however that we currently have a limit of 100 participants (including the Councilors and City Staff) per meeting so you should plan on leaving the video call as soon as you have made your comment so that others have a chance to participate. You can live-stream all the meetings from NewTV if you just want to observe/listen.
Let me explain how to follow along or join a meeting (if you’re not just there to observe):
Each week, you can find the “Friday Packet” given to City Councilors (or click the archive for older packets) here: http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/aldermen/fridaypack.asp
Then click on the calendar to see what’s coming up and what the Zoom links are for the remote meetings. This week’s calendar is here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/102352
Let’s say you want to read the agenda for the Public Safety & Transportation Committee meeting tonight at 6 PM (which includes my docket item on Face Surveillance Technologies) -- it’s listed under the Friday Packet category “New Agendas”. This week’s link is here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=65957.39&BlobID=102345
Want to find out what is being voted on tonight at the full City Council’s virtual meeting? We’ve got more than 30 items (including some hot-button ones like a marijuana store, a temporary suspension of the landmarking ordinance, an amendment to a special permit in the Wells Ave Office Park, and more) which you can find summarized in the weekly Council Newsletter link. This week’s Council newsletter is here: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Newsletter-for-March-13--2020.html?soid=1124249987853&aid=5BD0XYchmXM
Trying to find out more about a specific item mentioned in the Council Newsletter summary? That’s detailed in the “Reports Docket” for today’s date in the Friday Packet category “Docket-Report Docket-Actions” and you can see how each committee voted and which committee (sometimes more than one) reviewed the item before it came to the full Council for a vote. Today’s link is here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/102341(Sometimes you also have to look at a link in the category “Draft Council Orders” to find out more specifics beyond the full summary of each item in the Reports Docket.)
Trying to find out the content of what was discussed for each of those items in committee? Once you’ve figured out from the Reports Docket which committee or committees handled the item, you can then go to the Friday Packet category “Committee Reports” and look up the report for the date and committee when it was dealt with. For example, if you’re dying to read the summary of Finance Committee discussion on the item for inter-municipal brine-making sharing agreements with Brookline, it’s in the “03-09-20 Finance Report” – but remember, some items like the Countryside Elementary School item were taken up by 3 different committees before it got to the Council.
Trying to look up what has newly been docketed? That’s just called the “Docket” in the category “Docket-Report Docket-Actions” and has the date for the meeting at which it is being officially added. This week’s link is here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=64689.67&BlobID=102316
A lot of this can be difficult to read sequentially even for City Councilors, and we’ve suspended all weekly paper packets during the pandemic as well, so we’re all using the online version now just like the public, and I thought it might be helpful to explain how to read these. Now you’re all informed on how to read these packets yourselves even when we go back to in-person meetings eventually!
As noted above, the Zoom application links for each virtual meeting are listed in the calendars. We don’t take public comment at the full Council meetings, but the committee meetings do usually allow public comment, and we welcome your participation as long as there is space in the Zoom meetings. Please use the NewTV livestream of the Zoom meetings if you’re not there to comment, so that everyone who needs to can participate in the meetings and that we don’t have too much chaos in each meeting!