Mayor Donna D. Holaday
February 25, 2021
COVID-19 UPDATE
Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining in on this latest COVID-19 update. Last week it was announced that as of today, individuals age 65 or older, or individuals with two or more specific medical conditions, and residents and staff of public and private low income and affordable senior housing are eligible to receive this vaccine. With this announcement, an additional 1 million individuals in Massachusetts became eligible for the vaccine.
People in this phase are urged to go to the state’s web portal at: vaxfinder.mass.gov to make an appointment at a mass site or area site. Or, if you prefer to register over the phone with live assistance, you can also call 2-1-1. Please anticipate a wait time to be connected with a person. Even though it has been slow in starting, the good news is over 1 million people in Massachusetts have received their first dose of the vaccine. So, things are moving in the right direction, though we understand there is still a lot of frustration out there, but it is getting better.
Last week the state announced they would only give vaccines to the large-scale regional clinics capable of administering at least 750 doses per day, five days a week. This move prompted a request for a regional vaccination center in our area. Newburyport, Salisbury, Amesbury, Newbury, West Newbury, Rowley, Georgetown, Groveland and Merrimac have joined together to create a regional vaccine distribution group, which has recently run COVID-19 vaccination clinics in West Newbury, Georgetown and Amesbury for our First Responders. Working together, we believe we will be able to support the criteria to meet these numbers and operate a regional, general public vaccination site locally.
Any plan will need to be approved by the state Department of Public Health, but given that that the closest large-scale mass vaccination site is at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Danvers, we think our location will be a good option for this northeast section of the state. We understand that this regional site capable of vaccinating 750 people a day, five days a week, will also be available to everyone in the state. The state sets the rules but we believe that the large preponderance of people who will get vaccinated are people within these communities and the site will provides greater access. We will get others as well, but with the number of doses supplied, there is the potential for a lot of people in this corner of the state. Please be patient as we move this initiative forward; there are many moving parts and many details to be worked out. We do know that it will take time to ramp up with a fully allocated supply of doses from the state. We will provide communication on this as we proceed. All of this is a shared responsibility and a formidable effort to offer safe and effective vaccines to all of us locally, and to the millions of Massachusetts residents. Thank you all for your cooperation.
The host agreement we completed with Beth Israel/Lahey Health (includes AJH) will be able to continue at the Senior Community Center and notices went out to over 232,000 patients in this system on how to register for the vaccine through their system. They will be ramping up as more vaccines become available and anticipate the ability to administer over 2,000 doses per week. Again this site is operated through BI/LH and registration is through their system and supports over 100,000 patients in the Greater Newburyport area.
We continue to see significantly lower numbers of new daily cases since the New Year. We now see week over week decreases since the beginning of 2021. Our rate had been 50 per 100,000 over the holidays. Our positivity rate is now 2.07%. It had been above 5% for the majority of the holiday season. This is encouraging news, but I ask all of us to continue to be vigilant, make good decisions and follow the state’s guidelines.
In regards to our schools, Superintendent Gallagher has been working diligently with our Public Health Advisors and building principals to continue work on phased in plans to increase in-person learning and ultimately reach our goal of returning to full in-person learning. At each of our schools there are approximately 90% of the students engaged in hybrid models with two days of in-person instruction with active planning to phase in additional in-person learning. At the High School remote, hybrid and live-streaming is occurring with more students increasing to 4 days per week.
We recognize the deep challenges the educational programming and schedules have caused for the district and especially for families and students. However, our staff has not been immune from this virus and we have had serious cases and family deaths and we know our model has been effective as we have not had to shut down of our district to full remote because of outbreaks in schools.
In order to achieve the next steps in returning more students to in-person learning, we have begun surveillance and pool testing that will help us identify a particular classroom or cohort that may test positive. Again, with our model we can isolate a situation quickly and prevent spread of this virus. We have also been working with our EMS provider to vaccinate our teachers but as the vaccine rollout is limited by supply our efforts were pushed back until mid-March where we hope there is sufficient vaccine to reach this phase of eligibility for teachers. All of these efforts are focused on fully opening our schools as soon as possible. Superintendent Gallagher will be sending out further communication to families tomorrow.
In other news, we continue to work on a short-term solution for Plum Island and the Reservation Terrace area to get us through the storm season and until the Merrimack River can be dredged. We are very grateful for the direct support we are receiving from the Lieutenant Governor, MADOT, DEP, DCR, and EEA on short term protections as well the advocacy from our State legislators. The Army Corp of Engineers has starting the prep and permitting work for dredging of the Merrimack River, which will anticipate will happen this Fall of 2021.
I am also very pleased to announce that after decades of litigation, debate and failed surveys to address a plan for our central waterfront, we are moving forward to create the park and open space consistently and overwhelmingly supported by residents. The first step to move this forward was to honor the longstanding MOUs and understanding that in order to create this space; we needed to relocate cars- this was addressed by the development of the intermodal facility/garage. This was followed by the dissolution of the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority (NRA) and transfer of their property to city ownership to initiate the creation of the park/open space. An RFP process was issued and 14 proposals were reviewed by a team including myself, city staff, city councilors and community members that unanimously approved Sasaki to design of our Central Waterfront Park. Sasaki has a history of work in the city dating back to the 1960s and 1970s in the design of the master plan for protecting our historic downtown including the creation of Inn Street and Harborwalk. Additionally, Sasaki has a solid history of creating waterfronts, parks, plazas and open space. We anticipate a positive vote from the City Council on March 8th and finalization of the contact so their design work can begin. Once finalized, Sasaki’s proposal will be posted on the Planning Departments website.
We have also been working diligently on a plan for purchase of 57 Low Street, a surplus property from the National Guard. This is an opportunity for the city to purchase 2.1 acres of land for $220,000 for municipal use. I know many of our residents have been engaged and closely following this process; I am very grateful for your outreach and support. There are several municipal needs that would be appropriate for the site including a much needed field office for our Parks Department or Youth Services. Parks could utilize the site for three years while the site selection committee for Youth Services reviews all potential options to relocate Youth Services from the Brown School. Tonight a special City Council meeting has been scheduled for the final vote on the disposition of this property.
Additionally, I extend my thanks to our City Councillors for supporting the resolution for declaring the first Monday in March as COVID Memorial Day. This year, COVID Memorial Day will be held this Monday, March 1st to recognize the lives lost to this virus and the grief and struggles that continue for those family members and friends. In our city, to date we have lost 32 individuals to COVID-19 and to recognize those we have lost, at noon on Monday, March 1st church bells will chime 32 times for each of the victims. The following churches will be participating: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Belleville Congregational Church (UCC), Central Congregational Church (UCC), First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist, Old South Presbyterian, and the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church. Please take time to step outside, listen to the bells and take a moment of silence. All flags on municipal buildings will be at half-mast. At 1 pm on March 1st we will also hold a short remote service at 1:00 PM. I will be joined by Reverend Christopher Ney from Central Congregational Church, Reverend Rebecca Bryan from First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, Reverend Sara Singleton from Old South Presbyterian and Father Tim Harrison from the Immaculate Conception Church. In addition we anticipate students from our school district participating in the service. Please go to our home page on the city website for the zoom link to watch the service.
In closing, it has been a very long and challenging year and I know we are all anxious to see an end to this pandemic and return to the many activities we have had to suspend. To that end, Gov. Baker announced today that key public health data of new cases and hospitalizations, have been closely monitored and with the significant decline the State is allowing for a return to Step 2 of Phase III, effective March 1 for all cities and towns. This includes the following updates to businesses, activities and capacities:
- Indoor performance venues such as concert halls, theaters, and other indoor performance spaces will be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity with no more than 500 persons
- Indoor recreational activities with greater potential for contact (laser tag, roller skating, trampolines, obstacle courses) will be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity
- Capacity limits across all sectors with capacity limits will be raised to 50% and exclude employees
- Restaurants will no longer have a percent capacity limit and will be permitted to host musical performances; six-foot social distancing, limits of six people per table and 90 minute limits remain in place
Residents must continue to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and are encouraged to avoid contact outside of their immediate households. The Travel Advisory and other public health orders remain in effect. Please refer to the Mass.gov/Covid website for more details.
This is so encouraging that we are moving forward with re-opening our communities but we must continue adherence to the CDC and state guidelines. I have confidence we will be successful and continue to see more of our businesses re-opening. Have a wonderful week, stay safe and stay healthy!
Thank you