OPINION: TOWN COUNCIL FOR NOOBS: PHYSICAL DISTANCE, SOCIAL CONNECTION

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING (3/30/20) 

(Written 3/31/20)
The big issue of the week (and the foreseeable future): COVID-19.

A friend said to me earlier in the week that “social distancing” is a poor turn of phrase because we really mean physical distancing, and we should be fostering social connections despite having to keep ourselves physically apart. I couldn’t agree more. At this Monday’s meeting, the council made its first attempt to connect more directly—albeit virtually—with the public by using Zoom video conferencing software. 

Zoom worked well on my end. The audio and video feeds were clearer than the streaming video broadcast by Amherst Media. I could see all of the councilors on my screen. The various presentation slides were more legible. I felt more connected to the council than when watching the previous meetings from home. 

Public comment worked less well. At the start of the meeting, during the designated time, no one from the public spoke up (or typed in). Later, members of the public, including trolls, posted questions in chat that some councilors read or summarized as part of their discussion. Other councilors pointed out that in physical meetings, questions from the public are not incorporated into discussion at any time outside of designated comment periods. At the end of the meeting, the council agreed that they would continue to work on developing a protocol for including the public and refining their use of Zoom, with the goal of having these issues straightened out by next week.

What Else is New?
Town Manager Paul Bockelman reported that not much has changed in Amherst since last week regarding the COVID-19 outbreak beyond the implementation of two new measures. First, he asked as many town employees as possible to work remotely, including meetings of the town’s COVID-19 core response team. Second, all public playground equipment in town is off limits starting Monday. It was too time consuming for staff to have to sanitize the equipment, he said, so it has been cordoned off. Otherwise, access to parks and outdoor spaces remains as it was. “People need to recreate,” he said.

Bockelman once again beseeched the public on behalf of the Department of Public Works: Do not flush any wipes or rubber gloves down the toilet, even ones labeled “flushable”! He said that there has been a significant increase in these items being flushed, causing extra work for the DPW and expense to the town.

Bockelman said that the call for volunteers to help the Senior Center deliver food and do other tasks has been very successful. He reiterated that they could still use help, and to contact Donna Hancock at 413-259-3164. I spoke with a member of the board at the Amherst Survival Center who said they could also use donations and volunteers.

On April 2nd, Bockelman and Town Health Director Julie Federman will be holding two live call-in sessions to answer the public’s questions about COVID-19. These will be held from 12:00-1:00 PM and 5:00-6:00 PM. For instructions on how to participate, go to the town’s website.  Bockelman will be holding his next Cuppa Joe virtually on April 10th, starting at 8:00AM. Details on how to participate will be posted soon. The town has also launched a website focused on its response to COVID-19.

Cooley Dickenson’s COVID Response
We were lucky to have Joanne Marqusee, President and CEO of Cooley Dickenson Hospital, at the meeting to speak about the hospital’s preparedness for COVID-19. Without giving further details, she said that twelve patients tested positive for COVID-19 in the hospital that day. Overall, she said, things have been relatively quiet.

CDH has done about 400 tests for COVID-19 to date, Marquess said. Because the tests remain scarce, the hospital is continuing to follow strict criteria for testing. Only the most high-risk patients with serious symptoms are currently being tested, along with frontline responders such as medical professionals. She expects that the availability of tests will increase in coming weeks, although access will likely remain limited because the number of people presenting serious symptoms will also increase.

Marqusee emphasized that people with non-life threatening symptoms should not come to the hospital. They should contact their primary care physician first. The hospital can get people without a primary care physician in touch with one. For help or information about COVID-19, people can call CDH’s community call center at: 888-554-4234.

CDH has stopped all elective care procedures to save supplies and limit staff and patient contact with COVID-19, although this means a significant reduction in revenue. The hospital is prepared to double its capacity in order to cope with COVID-19, and is working with area hospitals including Bay State, to share resources, equipment and patient overflow if necessary. Because CDH is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, they have daily access to updated best practices for coping with the virus.

Masks
Several councilors asked whether or not members of the general public should be wearing masks. Councilor Dorothy Pam said that she had received a call from her dermatologist asking all patients visiting their practice to wear masks. She said she assumed we would all be wearing masks soon. When I went to the Big Y earlier in the day on Monday, at least half the shoppers were wearing various kinds of masks and rubber gloves. One person, who may well have been a medical professional, was in full head-to-toe protective covering as if they were in a surgical theater.

Marqusee said that CDH was not requiring patients to wear masks. She and town Health Director Julie Federman both emphasized that current CDC guidelines did not recommend that members of the public wear masks or rubber gloves when in public unless they are sick with COVID-19, or suspect they are. (And people who are sick with COVID-19 should isolate except for mandatory doctor’s visits.) They cautioned that wearing a mask while well could lead to a false sense of security and not practicing proper physical distancing. Clinical masks are needed for medical professionals and should not be hoarded by the public. Homemade masks have not been proven effective against COVID-19. Federman said that it was fine if people want to wear masks while still practicing effective physical distancing if it makes them feel more psychologically secure, but only people instructed by their healthcare provider need to wear masks at this time.

According to The New York Times, the CDC is currently reviewing its policy on masks and COVID-19.