Board of Health: February 11, 2022

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0:00 Call the meeting to order. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, an act relative to extending certain COVID-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency signed into law on June 16, 2021. This meeting will be conducted by a remote participation. No in-person attendance by members of the public will be permitted. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the Town of Marblehead’s website, www.marblehead.org-health under agendas and today’s agenda. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to watch or participate in the meeting may do so in the following manner by inserting the meeting ID number 434-701-1658 on Zoom or dial in phone number 1-253-215-8782 or 1301-715-8592. The following board members are participating remotely in today’s meeting. Andrew, if you could do a roll call, please. Ms. Joy Miller. Present. Ms. Helene Hazley. Present. Ms. Jatod Olbecker. Present. Okay, so we have one item on our agenda, which is to have a mass-made discussion. Why don’t we start, Andrew? Do you have… No, actually, I’ll open up to the board. Helene, or Joanne, do you have anything you want to open with?

1:31 Well, I thought maybe Andrew would read what the numbers are today and maybe along with the hospitalizations and then we could then… We may be ready to make a motion after that. Okay. You could please, Andrew. Okay, as it is Friday, February 11th, we’ve had a total of 3,264 cases so far today through the beginning of the pandemic. We have a total of 61 active cases. We have a total of 15 probable cases from January 28th to February 11th. So in the last two weeks, we’ve had a total of 120 cases. We’ve had 15 cases from 0 to 4 years old, 14 cases from 5 to 11 years old, 8 cases from 12 to 19, 9 cases from 20 to 29 years old, 10 cases from 30 to 39 years old, 18 cases from 40 to 49 years old, 24 cases from 50 to 59 years old, 18 cases from 60 to 69 years old, 4 cases from 70 to 79 years old, and 0 cases to 80 plus. Average daily incident rate per 100,000 for the last 14 days has gone down again. It’s currently 53.7. The total number of tests taken so far to date is 99,303.

3:01 The total test for the last 14 days is 1,989. The percent positivity for the last 14 days is 7.99. This is a change that is going down. For the state numbers, as of February 9th at the Mass Dashboard, the 7-day average of confirmed cases is now at 1,768. This was the lowest since it’s been since November 13th of 2022. I’m sorry, 2021, that was 1,875. As of February 9th, the 7-day weighted average for percent positivity is 3.8% in the state. That is the lowest since November 28th of 2021 when it was 4.19%. The 7-day average hospitalization for the state is 1,398. Let me see this.

4:10 Also, I have a letter from Mass General Salem Hospital. This comes from the Office of the President. This was written February 7th, 2022. And this was written to the Salem Board of Health. As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to applaud the members of the health department, the city of Salem, and the county district residents and business owners who have worked so diligently to keep our community safe and our health care system strong. Our physicians, nurses, and staff deeply appreciate every one of you. Unfortunately, the COVID infection numbers are coming down both in the community and in the hospital, and the situation is evolving quickly. Our ICU capacity is back to baseline. We have seen a 75% drop in hospitalizations, hospitalized COVID patients since early January, and the community positivity rates have declined significantly in the recent weeks. The board did the right thing in implementing the proof of vaccination measure back when it voted in December. At that time, we are not sure how bad the Omicron surge would be, but knew that if it was not taken seriously enough, residents and the local health system would pay a heavy price. We are grateful to the Salem Board of Health, local businesses, and residents for the considerations of these factors. As a result, vaccination rates in Salem have increased, and the rate of new COVID-19 infections remains low in Salem, and then in the rest of the state.

5:41 Undoubtedly, the proof of vaccination measure, as well as the indoor masking mandate, have saved lives. Given the current trends, we would not be opposed to pulling back and COVID mitigation restrictions in the local community. As we continue to live with COVID and its future variants, we encourage the city to maintain its data-driven approach and streamline its ability to respond quickly, to put mitigation measures in place as needed. We look forward to partnering with you in this virtual endeavor. Thank you. Sincerely, Dave J. Roberts, MD. I also wanted to give some information regarding masking mandates in surrounding communities. So, these are communities that have rescinded their indoor mask mandate, and I’ll give you the date. So, on February 2nd, the City of Beverly took immediate action and immediately rescinded their mask order. On February 3rd, the town of Manchester rescinded their mask mandate as of 2-11. On February 7th, Saugus immediately rescinded their indoor mask mandate. On February 8th, Salem immediately rescinded their indoor mask mandate. The town of Swamscot voted on February 8th to rescind their indoor mask mandate on February 21st. The City of Lynn took a vote on February 9th to immediately rescind the indoor mask mandate.

7:14 The town of Hamilton, on February 9th, voted immediately to rescind indoor mask mandate. The town of Danvers, on February 10th, voted immediately to rescind indoor mask mandate on the City of Newbury port, voted on January 25th to rescind their indoor mask mandate on February 28th. Today, PBD was scheduled to meet, but I don’t know the outcome of that. Okay. So we see where the trends are going. Thank you very much. Yes. Helene, did you have anything or join? Would that… Yeah, let’s discuss. I think with that glowing letter from Mass General Salem, from Dr. Roberts, and the numbers that we got this morning from Mr. Petty, I’m ready to make a motion. I’d just like to say before I made the motion that I won’t make it until the rest of the committee has their opportunity, that 20% of all of the cases that occurred since December 27th, the numbers that we were given today, have occurred since December 27th. 20% of all the cases that we have had, of the 3,264, I think that was the number that we were given.

8:44 And so I think that we did a service to the community by having the mandate for those six weeks. And if we stop today, we’ll… So be it. So I just wanted the past six weeks, we’ve seen 20% of the cases. And if there’s no other discussion, I’d be happy to make a motion. So there, Joanne, do you have anything to put in? I would like to share Helene’s appreciation to Andrew for those data. And I feel confident that based on this data, and especially this, and additionally, this letter from Dr. Roberts, that it’s reasonable to relax this measure. I feel very grateful that we are going in that direction, this easing of this surge. I see some hands raised. And before we do our motion, I will recognize the public, but not quite yet, because I just want to say that I do stand by our mandate 100%. I think we did 100% the right thing to do what we could to protect our community. And I’m glad we did it. I do think it’s time to move on. I think that overwhelmingly, I’ve gotten positive responses from the public, from business owners, from the community saying, thank you for doing this. And I think that’s important to note. But I do think that based on these numbers that we have, we can move on. I would say that we should continue by strongly recommending mask wearing indoors.

10:19 I think that’s COVID is not over. We know that there’s still cases happening. And I think I would want to do a recommendation or a stronger recommendation. So on that note, there’s a couple of hands raised. And… Isn’t the motion usually made? And then there’s discussion on the motion? So the people… That’s the discussion on our part. So we can wait to do the motion until after we’ve heard from the public. We are not going to have an extended period of public comment today, just because of time constraints. And everybody will have the two minutes that we always have. So I see four hands raised. I’m going to have to call it short at those four people. We’ll recognize each of you and then we’ll move on with our meeting. So the first person is Will. You can just introduce yourself. Juan Arlen Road. We have a leadership crisis in many areas of this country. We don’t have leaders. We have followers. You as a board were granted the power to lead by Governor Baker when he put the decision-making power on mask wearing in the hands of cities and towns. And what did you guys do with that power? Helene said that she walked into a handful of local businesses shortly before the meeting and decided that not enough people were adhering to the strong recommendation to wear a mask. Did you go one step further and ask those business owners if they were

11:49 concerned that not enough customers were wearing masks? You never indicated that you did. Joanne, you indicated that since other cities and towns were mandating masks, that basically we should be good neighbors and follow along with their lead. We were taught as children to never follow along with friends and others. Your actions are an abuse of power and unacceptable. You never reached out to the Chamber of Commerce to see if they were receiving complaints from business owners or citizens. You never reached out to the businesses that would be most negatively impacted by reinstating the mandate. You chose to see what you wanted to see and you never cited any scientific evidence to support your decision and masks have never been proven to prevent viral transmission. The good news is that according to the science of 2022, there is a new phenomenon called one-way masking where if you’re vaccinated, boosted, and wearing an N95 mask, you’re protected no matter what others are doing. You finally have the opportunity to let people to be free to make their own choices. The bad news is that many of us will never forgive and forget your actions on this matter. Beginning in June, many of us will work together to begin the process of removing all three of you from your position. Thank you. Thank you. Excuse me, could we have your full name in it? You got your answer, right? You gave it at the beginning. Could we have your full name, please, Will? Oh, he did? Who said that, Andrew? Yeah, we have it. He gave his name at the beginning. Yep.

13:20 Okay. Okay, thank you. Tom? I’d like to, I like what Will said there, and I also want to mention this repeated idea of minor inconvenience. And, Tom, you said you went to the businesses, but so have I. And I have not got, I’ve gotten the exact opposite from you, so I find it hard to believe. And I’ve actually heard that none of you have gone to the businesses, because I asked them if you did. And you didn’t. So this minor inconvenience is a minor inconvenience for you. It’s not a minor inconvenience for them, and you don’t seem to care about their opinion, and I believe you’re actually not being truthful on the fact that you talked to them. Now, I want to address, there’s two other things I want to address, and I want to address, Helene, you were the holdup on the last call, and right now you’re in Florida. You are in a place where people are allowed to make adult decisions, and you made it an adult decision to go there. I don’t fault you for that. I do fault you for telling all of us up here that we’re not allowed to make adult decisions. It’s hypocritical, and you’re in a high-risk demographic. So you clearly don’t feel that this is that scary down there. The third thing I want to do, as members of Marblehead, you know, one of our points of pride in this town is we are part of the Revolutionary War. You know, our main crown jewel is the Spirit of 76 painting, and what those people fought for was a land that was made on individual freedoms that were protected. And I’m going to give you a quote of one. Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. That’s Ben Franklin, the person that drafted the Declaration of Independence.

14:53 Everything you’re doing now is about as anti-Marblehead as it could have been. You were never granted this power by the citizens in Marblehead. You were given it by Baker, and you just took it and ran with it, and now you’re patting yourselves on the back despite the fact that no one else in town is patting you. Go ahead. See you on the campaign, Clyde. Thank you. Next person, Kevin. Hi, Kevin McCurn in 24 Foster Street. I’m an expert witness on many PCR cases revolving these tests that we’re using for coronavirus testing, and I can assure you that if any of you are relying on or reciting case data as a justification for using masks, it is simply a demonstration of your incompetence in your position. All right? PCR testing can be positive for 90 days after you have this. So with Omicron being very asymptomatic, you are chasing ghosts trying to regulate masks based on PCR data. I’ve got 18 patents on PCR. I’ve built DNA sequencers around PCR. I understand it’s cold, and you are abusing this as a form of basically using power out of mythical scientific information that you have no understanding what you’re doing with. So please stop using case data. It is irrelevant to tracking a pandemic, and everybody knows this. We knew this two years ago. There’s plenty of papers on this. Stop terrorizing people with your false sense of science. Thank you. Final speaker today is Kim. Hi.

16:23 Kim Crowley from 21 Roosevelt Avenue. I appreciate what Kevin and Tom and Will had to say. I parrot everything you had to say. I have one thing to add. My fear is that this Board of Health will do the same kind of thing again. What I mean here is for six weeks, while I’ve been minorly inconvenienced with my business, I have been e-mailing. I’ve spoken to Lane on the phone. I’ve been asking, what are your metrics for this mandate? Not once was I given an accurate answer for a threshold, for a number of cases, for a number of contractions. No one could give me an answer. So what is going to stop you guys from doing this again? I see smug smiles on the three of you, and I can’t even tell you how it makes me feel. And beyond me being a business owner, I look at my three teenagers, and what this has done to them, unforgivable. I don’t want this to happen again, and it better not. Thanks for that. All right. So the comment is closed. What, Helen? Andrew, would you mind just, I’d like Andrew to mention that he’s given

17:54 numbers in case it closed every single meeting. And he’s given them to the town leadership every single week. Is that a fact, Andrew? That’s correct. This is the 99th weekly case report. Yes, we’ve asked for your threshold for the mandate. So, Helen, did you want to make a motion? Yes, I would. And I would like to know if you would like the motion to be in one part or two parts. I’m going to make a motion to rescind the mass mandate. And if there’s a recommendation, would you like that to be in a second part and discuss that, or would you like it to be in two parts? Because I have both. I would say we should do two separate things. Okay. All right. I move to rescind the mass mandate as of 12 a.m. February 12th. That is midnight. Tonight or midnight tomorrow, which is February 12th. I guess we should call it 1201. Is that correct, Andrew? Is that the way you use it? Yeah, that’s fine. 1201. All right. So I move to rescind the mass mandate at 1201 a.m. February 12th. Is there a second? I second that. Okay. Hold vote. Ms. Helene Hazley.

19:24 In favor. Ms. Joanne Miller. In favor. Dr. Todd Beall Becker. In favor. The second motion, Helene. I move that we make a recommendation of wearing masks in public buildings in Marblehead. We will be meeting. I’m not sure what the date would be because I think we will not be meeting next week. I’m going to give you the date of March 8th. And we can have a second, I guess, for discussion and decide what the date would be or if there’s no date. So I move. March 8th is the next scheduled meeting. I think we should cancel this meeting. Excuse me. I’ll rephrase that. Just say it again, please. I move that we rescind the mass mandate. I mean, I did that one already. I move that we make a recommendation that wearing of masks in public buildings in Marblehead will be until our next meeting. And we will discuss it at our next meeting. Not until our next meeting. There will be a discussion at the next meeting. So in other words, the Board of Health strongly, make a motion to the Board of Health strongly recommends indoor mask wearing to be discussed, to be re-discussed at our March 8th meeting. Yes, but I didn’t say the word strongly.

20:56 If you want to include that, we’d have to make a motion to accept your words. So I would be fine with strongly. We can put that as the motion. We don’t need another motion to change the wording. I think you’d have to add. Ask for that. I am. So do we have to take a vote on whether the. So we haven’t made the motion hasn’t been seconded. No. And I think this just shows that while we’re. I think the strong recommendation is important because it shows that we know that COVID is not over yet. And that we still want people to do the right thing and protect themselves and their neighbors and community, fellow community members. I’m recommending it shows that we still take it seriously, I think, but it doesn’t mean that we’re going to have the mandate anymore. So I’m very comfortable with a strong recommendation. I agree. So do you want to. Are you okay with the word strongly? Why don’t you make the motion and then I’ll go with. I’m happy to make a motion that we strongly recommend.

22:30 Mask wearing indoors. Going forward and we can. Follow up and discuss that further at our March 8th meeting. Second. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yes, thank you. In favor. In favor. Mr. In favor. Dr. In favor. And so why don’t we cancel our meeting on Tuesday? I think that that’s fine. So we have a public forum about the transportation March 1st, and then our next scheduled board of health meeting is March 8th. That’s. Sorry about the noise. I’m sorry. We will not be discussing the mass mandate on March 1st. Correct. That is purely about the transmission. We have motion to adjourn. I have one other comment. Do you mind a comment? I’m sorry. I’d like to thank you. Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. I would like to thank the community for their cooperation. And we hope the citizens of Marblehead will be respectful of whatever choice individuals make. And I think there will be choices made by individuals in a lot of different ways.

24:04 Some won’t wear masks at all. Some will wear them all the time. Some will wear them just going to a doctor’s office. Some will wear them everywhere. So I would like the citizens to be respectful of whatever choice individuals in their families make. And I thank everybody for coming today. And by the way, I have inherited a home of my mother’s in Florida. And I’d like to tell you, I haven’t left my house except right now I am outside of an outdoor restaurant where I’m meeting someone. And I’ve taken that time to do that. And I’m not running around the city of Florida. I’m in my own home. And I’m living the same way, my cooking my meals. And that’s what I’ve done. And in addition, I’ve even bought an extra seat on the plane. So my husband and I were separated. I don’t feel that I need to do that. But yet I think that my constituents need me to do it. So thank you. We have a motion to adjourn. I’ll make a motion to adjourn. Okay. Wait, is there a second? In favor. Miss Celine Hazlet. In favor. Dr Todd. In favor. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.