Mayor Holaday's Weekly COVID-19 Update - December 3, 2020
Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for listening in on this latest COVID-19 update. As we find ourselves at the beginning of the holiday season, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support to family, friends, your colleagues, and our community.
To our business community, I also want to thank you for your commitment your employees, your customers, and our community. A lot has been asked of our businesses this year and responses have been overwhelming. Their collective ability to adapt and implement safety protocols in the face of COVID-19 has been remarkable. Our downtown retailers and restaurants have been particularly resilient despite a challenging environment. This is not the 2020 anyone wished for, however, in this challenging year we have been reminded of the power of community.
We find ourselves in the anticipated second surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. From a public health perspective, we must remain vigilant, while also showing compassion. With community spread and transmission risk on the rise, it is critical that we continue to do all we can to protect our community. Please consider those around you at higher risk such as older adults or those with certain medical conditions and take extra precautions.
In the last two months we’ve seen our total positive case count double. As of the state’s last report on Friday, November 27, Newburyport is considered a “Yellow”, risk community by the state, which is the 3rd highest of the 4 risk levels. However, we have surpassed 1 out of 2 measurements to be categorized as a “Red”, high risk community. Our recent 14-day positive test of 3.38% is still below the high-risk rate of 5%. But our 14-day positive case rate of 29.4 per 100,000 is well above the red threshold of 10 per 100,000 and we expect it to continue rising.
We have added temporary part time contact tracers to aid in the Health Department’s contact tracing and positive case management. We are asking residents who have tested position or if someone in their household tests positive for COVID-19 to proactively reach out to our Health Department to begin the quarantine and contact tracing process. We ask that all contacted be honest and forthright with our contact tracers. We understand revised quarantine guidelines are being issued by the CDC and we will have more information on those changes shortly. In the interim, please continue to follow the current guidelines and directives from our Health Department.
We now have more active cases than we ever had during the surge last spring. Fortunately, we are in a better position as a whole and know much more about the virus and how it spreads. For one, residents are adhering to the CDC guidelines and mask wearing compliance is very high in Newburyport. Adhering to the guidelines will allow us to avoid another shutdown or stay at home order. We have also resumed our regular updates with the Anna Jaques Hospital administration, who confirm that they are experiencing the same number of COVID patients as in the spring, but that the hospitalization stays are shorter, due to improved treatment and increased knowledge of the virus. This is good news.
As far as information on positive cases, our Health Department continues to see the virus spreading mainly through family contact within the household and contact through social interactions outside of school and work. There has also been several restaurants in the past few weeks with positive cases, but fortunately, it does not appear that there has been any spread within the workplace. There are also 2 assisted living facilities with clusters of cases and our Health Department is working closely with these facilities.
On a more positive note, Massachusetts is ranked one of the best states for wearing masks, but there is still room for improvement. Even though it’s the minority of people, unfortunately in Massachusetts, and here locally in Newburyport, we do have people who continue to reject the guidance on wearing masks. One significant instance is at our skate park. Just this week, the city closed the skate park as a last resort because of many incidents, both reported and witnessed, of non-compliance of the CDC COVID-19 guidelines, including mask wearing and social distancing, as well as damage to the property. Soon thereafter, we received a tremendous amount of feedback from the skatepark users and their families. I and our Parks Director were encouraged by what we heard. Skaters and their parents are committed to complying with the COVID-19 safety guidelines and come together to monitor and self-police ensuring everyone’s safety when using the park. Thank you to all of you who have contacted the City about this issue and if you are interested in assisting please reach out to Lise Reid at Lreid@cityofnewburyport.com . As a result, the skate park will open in the next few days.
Lastly on this subject, please understand that we are doing our best to keep our families, neighbors, businesses and friends safe. We want you to know that the city is here to support you, but it’s a daily balance of making decisions to protect the health, safety, and well-being of our residents, while trying to maintain some sense of normalcy and quality of life for all.
So please everyone – despite all of our pandemic fatigue, wear masks, sanitize regularly and socially distance. We must not let this escalating trend of positive cases continue. I know all of us will do our best to protect our community and flatten the curve.
We continue to do well within the school district; even though we have had cases in the schools, we have not had in-school transmission and this is attributed to the safety protocols in place throughout the district. I am grateful to everyone, from our students who have bravely turned on their videos and learned how to connect to their peers and teachers through a screen; to our educators who have juggled the demands of hybrid education and the pressures of new health and safety protocols all the while keeping their eyes on the wellbeing of children; to our parents whose living rooms have become classrooms and who have supported the district in safely reopening - thank you.
In other important news-
This week, the city council approved my recommendation for a 1.0% tax rate increase for 2021 which was as close to flat as we could hope for. This means that forty-nine percent of single-family residences will have tax increases that are either negative or less than 1%. We understand this has been a difficult year for everyone, and I am hopeful that the tax rate proposal will provide some relief to households and businesses. We are also optimistic that additional support from the state and federal government will be approved to provide much needed assistance for those struggling to get by. More information on the tax rate is available on the City’s finance webpage, cityofnewburyport.com/financials.
We are also pleased to report we have awarded a construction contract through funding from the State Municipality Vulnerability Preparedness grant to George R. Cairns and Sons for the Waste Water Treatment Facility Shoreline Resiliency Project. This project will protect our major investment in the Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrades by creating more resiliency to coastal storm surges and flooding. We will begin construction on the berm and revetment this month.
The contractor Aqualine for the Parker Street Rail Trail work has completed their fall work funded through the Complete Streets grant from the state and with Community Preservation Act funds. The work included rough grading, drainage, curbing and foundation work for the HAWK signal, which is scheduled to be installed in December. The Rail Trail is a beloved resource for many in our community and we look forward to making our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The project will be completed in late spring.
Sidewalk, curbing, and driveway work will continue over the next few weeks for the High Street Safe Routes to School project, and then construction will stop for the winter. We have heard from many residents over the safe routes project, and very much appreciate your patience during the disruption and construction at this time. We look forward to the project’s completion in the spring which will include the final paving of High Street.
In the spirit of the holiday season, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the entire City staff that have been working so hard in such unprecedented times throughout this pandemic. I’m proud of all our staff and all departments for rising to the challenge and adjusting their operations to function throughout the pandemic and provide City services without disruptions. Our public servants have continued to serve the community since the COVID-19 emergency began in March. The Department of Public Services will now transition from the construction season into the snow season. Thank you again to all of city staff for their hard work and perseverance throughout the pandemic.
Despite these difficult and continuing conversations about the pandemic, positive information is emerging about Pfizer and Moderna’s progress in the development of a COVID vaccine. Each week, good news about vaccines or antibody treatments surfaces, offering hope to an end to the pandemic. As information becomes available on vaccine distribution, we will provide updates to our community. We do know that health care workers, first responders and long-term care facilities will be prioritized.
This holiday season presents a grim reckoning, as cases continue to rise at the local, state and national levels. Our work in fighting the pandemic is not done, so especially during this holiday period, it is important not to let down our guard down.
I would like to take a moment to thank the Lions Club, who once again offered Thanksgiving meals to our community. Unfortunately their traditional dinner was not possible on-site at the Senior Community Center but dozens of volunteers delivered 350 Thanksgiving meals to those in need. Thank you.
And as the Christmas holiday is season is here, again we had to make adjustments to some of our traditions. My thanks to the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary for creating an alternative to traditional tree lighting and created a rolling Santa parade to the joys of children and their families.
There are still ways to enjoy this holiday season. We are encouraging all to support our local businesses by shopping and dining local. Our restaurants and retailers are continuing creative ways for on-line orders and curbside pickups, please consider helping out local economy.
I would also like to recognize the Chamber of Commerce and Newburyport Development for the beautiful holiday decorations throughout the city. Come to Market Square and take a photo in front of the tree or come to Brown Square to see Santa in his traditional workshop where you may drop off your wish list and snap a safe photo with Mr. Claus form outside the workshop! There will also be the traditional holiday house tours with a contactless outdoor tour with festive holiday scenes and vignettes on our home’s front porches, lawns, and driveways! As always please continue to wear a mask and social distance as you and your families enjoy the holiday season. Please think very seriously about your holiday plans and I encourage all to adhere to the CDC and State strong recommendations to stay home and not travel.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.