HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-03-28 Board of Health Minutes 0 q
° Town of Reading
Meeting Minutes r
Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
20 H r, 21 �HII: 10
Board of Health
Date: 2020-03-28 Time: 10:00 AM
Building: Location:
Address: Session: Open Session
Purpose: CoronaVirus/Covid-19 Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Emmy Dove, Eleanor Shonkoff, Kevin Sexton
Members - Not Present:
Ann Maire Messina, Lara Romonowski
Others Present:
Jean Dellos
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Eleanor Shonkoff
Topics of Discussion:
Agenda
1005a Meeting called to order- Emmy
• DiscussionClosure extensions of current Orders-through May 3rd
• Kevin- Update from Rep. Jones-too early to tell if they're going to extend past April 7th for non-
essential business closures. They are waiting for more public health data in the coming days/week
• Nate-Currently in-person dining is banned until April 6th
• Discussions. For today, extend closures of anything town owned. buildings, playgrounds, senior center,
(thought is to be in line with Governor re: schools)
o Question- is library included? Does library follow schools? Or is Library Board of Trustees?
• Note. Command is under the impression that we had technically already extended closures until May 4
for schools and recreation
o Note: Currently no public access through April 6th for Pleasant Street Center
• Action: Emmy will reach out to Amy Lanon about Library closures, stating that we suggest they extend
to May 4
c
• Motion: Kevin- Motion to extend closure of town of Reading until May 4, 2020 to include public
playgrounds, fields, sports complexes,town hall, reading rec, senior van service
o Reading Public Playgrounds, Fields, Sports Complexes, etc.
o Reading Recreation Programming (through Reading Public Schools)
o Town Hall (closed to the public)
c Public Safety Buildings(public limited)
Pleasant Street Center(Senior Center)
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c Senior Van Service
• Amendment-"public-limited' safety buildings
• Amendment-senior van service'for elder transportation purposes'
• Emmy-2nd as amended
• Roll call
o Kevin -y
o Emmy-y
o Eleanor-y
• Note: Emmy-Think about reaching out to Health Directors from other towns-they've stopped
reporting case numbers in the town because they didn't want to give false sense of security, better to
assume anyone can be infected. Needham stopped,Wakefield and Melrose have stopped reporting
town specific numbers per guidance from the DPH.
• Kevin -thinks reporting vsnot reporting numbers doesn't change the behavior-is fine with either way
• Kevin-discussed campaign to encourage people to stay home by acting as if they have it("I feel
fine"), encouraging individuals to stay home now means getting others back to work as soon as
possible
• Note: 1099 employees can't apply for unemployment
• Potential avenue for messaging campaign- Press releases-
• Discussion of hiring a media person
o Is state releasing money to towns to hire social media consultant to do it?
• Question- Can we post to Facebook?
o Unsure about whether we're allowed to have BOH facebook pages- because we have to
agree on content
• Jean- professional services •$10,000 for social media--what would this process look like?
• Emmy-video announcements-each Board member takes one angle recorded via Zoom to upload to
Town website, social media
• City of Medford read prepared statement and that seemed to work well
• Emmy--each Board Member's perspective may appeal to different audience
• Editorials to put in the paper? Unclear whether Chronicle is still delivering', is this online?This is read
by the older population, Reading Post is online- RCN is something the older population watches
(RCN has social media account)I schools can push stuff out, too.
• Action- BOH members will take the weekend to think about potential PR strategy
• Eleanor-do we want to think about an enforcement plan?
Decision: yes,will think about this
• Do we want to post 'Beware of Scams' on website, link to Middlesex's website:
htt salwww.middlesexda.comlhomelbulletinslcovid-1 9-scams?
o Decision: yes
o Action. Emmy will send to command
• Motion to adjourn- Kevin
• Eleanor-2nd
• Roll call -
o Kevin-y
o Emmy-y
I Eleanor-y
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