From Mayor Fuller:
Today I declared a State of Emergency in the City of Newton.Why?The situation with COVID-19 is serious and demands a serious response.A State of Emergency helps make us more nimble with making decisions and with getting reimbursed from the Federal and State governments.We are living in a fast-moving, new reality, and the human impact is stark.Many of us are working from home, and for some of us, office and workplace closings have meant no paycheck.Kids are out of their routines and their everyday connections with their school friends, teachers and counselors are disrupted.Familiar ways to get together are on hold. We can’t, for now, gather together to sing, to play, to listen to music, or to have a simple communal meal in the school cafeteria, the Senior Center, or at a local restaurant with friends or family.Each day, as we take unprecedented but necessary steps to protect the health and safety of our neighbors and our employees to slow the spread of COVID-19, I know the consequences are being felt by all of us.Social DistancingWe must all immediately and rigorously practice social distancing.We are at a critical time in Newton and in the Commonwealth where each of us must take every action possible to protect our neighbors, to reduce the spread of this novel coronavirus and to try to prevent an overload on our hospitals, doctors and nurses, and other medical first responders.
- Avoid any group setting of people other than your household members unless you can be six feet away from them.
- Do not have your children interact with children from other households, unless they are six feet away.
- Do not use playground equipment. It is impossible to keep children’s hands clean when climbing on play structures.
- If you need to go to the grocery store, drug store, a bank or a gas station, follow social distancing guidelines by going at off hours and keeping as much distance as possible from other shoppers and employees. Better yet, use take-out or delivery services with social distancing practices when picking up or accepting delivery.
- Wash your hands frequently for 20 seconds with soap and warm water, especially before and after being in public places.
Social distancing by staying at least 6 feet away from everyone other than household members is the most important thing each of us can and must do right now.
Yesterday I made the difficult decision to close all City of Newton municipal buildings to the public effective today, March 17.While our buildings are closed, we are still open for business. We are using all sorts of different methods including phone, email, texts, conference calls, teleconferences, virtual meetings, and, on occasion, making appointments to do some business in person using strict social distancing protocols.I know there are many questions. We are creating new ways to get “the people’s business” done and I will have an update tomorrow.This is a remarkable City with so many reaching out to help. Let’s continue to check on our neighbors and on people who are frail or vulnerable – this includes our elders who may already be feeling isolated. It’s also time to think about how we can help our friends and family who are facing health issues for whom this time could present extra challenges for them.Warmly,RuthanneP.S. Do you have questions about COVID-19? Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital (and a Newton resident), City of Newton Emergency Management Director Bruce Proia, and I will answer questions tomorrow evening, during a one hour call-in program on NewTV from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Call in your questions to 617-965-7200.
Newton’s elected leaders have not faced a public health crisis like this in more than a century. It appears to me that Mayor Fuller is doing an excellent job dealing with this current situation. She responded to the problem early, closing schools at the appropriate time. She has solicited the opinions of experts, and kept the public well informed. No one could have come into the office of Mayor being truly prepared for the responsibility Mayor Fuller now faces. I’m confident in her leadership and proud of her actions.
Here are a couple of things the Mayor may want to consider. First, based on Italy’s experience and the predictions of health experts in the US, we may experience a shortage of hospital beds. Newton may want to consider designating one of our larger hotels as a crisis care facility. I would think the hotel on Grove St. might best serve that purpose due to its proximity to Newton Wellesley Hospital. I understand this would not address the need to equip this facility with ventilators etc, or the underlying staffing issues. It does however seem preferable to treating people in parking lot tents as we are seeing other communities prepare for.
Secondly, while the carona crisis itself is what we are dealing with now, it’s not too soon to consider plans for the economic recovery of Newton’s small businesses like our many wonderful restaurants. This would be a good time to secure a $50M recovery fund to help those businesses reopen at the appropriate time.
The City has several tools at its disposal to accomplish this, including guaranteeing low interest loans through local banks. Many small businesses have trouble qualifying for traditional loans. For them, borrowing is likely to be impossible after lengthy closings and incurred debt. The City needs to be in a position to help them out, and a well planned $50M recovery fund would do that.
Pretty tacky for Fuller to include a photo op in today’s newsletter. We didn’t need a photo of her getting delivery. Come on.
MMQC, with people worried about whether takeout is OK, having a picture of the Mayor accepting an order shows “skin in the game”.
Sweating about whether a picture is tacky or not kind of seems like #lastweeksthinking .
I’m actually starting to miss seeing all my local personalities doing ordinary things!
What Mike Halle said. Plus it reminded me that I haven’t had pad thai in a while. Making that tomorrow’s takeout.
I like #lastweeksthinking and def think it applies here.
I heard today on CNN that NYC is considering using hotels as crisis care facilities. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, hotels are obviously far better than the emergency tents being used in some Washington state communities. There are a couple of hotels within reasonable distance of Newton Wellesley Hospital that could be used as care facilities. It’s likely Mayor Fuller is already considering this.