Bedford Town Publishes Coronavirus Update For June 22

Press release from the Town of Bedford:

June 22, 2020

The Bedford COVID-19 Task Force met Monday, June 22, 2020 to review the latest guidance from the Department of Public Health (DPH), the office of Governor Charlie Baker, and Town Legal Counsel.

The COVID-19 Task Force is comprised of the following Town officials:

Sarah Stanton, Town Manager

Jon Sills, Superintendent of Schools

Heidi Porter, Director of Health and Human Services

Robert Bongiorno, Police Chief

David Grunes, Fire Chief

Taissir Alani, Facilities Director

Current Cases

As of today, June 22, 2020, there have been a total of two hundred fifty-two (252) positive cases of COVID-19 reported to the Town of Bedford Board of Health by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MA DPH), of those, one hundred forty-three (143) are Bedford residents not living in a healthcare/long term care setting. Forty (40) deaths of Bedford residents have been attributed to COVID-19. The total case number includes residents of the Town of Bedford, including but not limited to those in: single-family homes, apartments, the VA campus, Hanscom Air Force Base, special needs group homes and any and all other larger assisted living/care facilities in Bedford as reported to us by the MA DPH.

As you may be aware, long-term care facilities serving the elderly and congregate care facilities, house susceptible populations with underlying conditions who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Increased testing occurs at these facilities and results in more positive cases being identified. As such, cities and towns with these facilities, like Bedford, experience elevated positive case counts and, unfortunately, deaths due to the vulnerability to COVID-19 of the populations within those facilities.

Eighty-four (84) of the total Bedford cases have already recovered and have come off of isolation and there may other Bedford residents who would be considered persons under investigation in that they are symptomatic, have undergone testing but have not yet received results. There are other individuals impacted by COVID-19 in the community that have not sought medical attention, and/or have not been tested and are isolating at home regardless. Those individuals do not appear on the surveillance reports the Town receives from the MA DPH.

The Board of Health continues to do the appropriate follow-up and outreach to those residents and close contacts known to us and the VA is conducting follow-up and contact tracing of the Veteran’s under their care. Many of the identified close contacts of some of the Bedford cases never exhibited symptoms, have completed their required quarantine period and have been released from quarantine by the Board of Health.

Please note, in part to alleviate the community concern, the VA does do a daily report of their numbers, which includes inpatients, outpatients and staff, many of whom do not call Bedford home. The information can be found here: https://www.accesstocare.va.gov/Healthcare/COVID19NationalSummary

New Daily Update Schedule - Starting Next Week 6/29/20

It is important to note that the daily count of new cases reported to the Bedford Board of Health by the MA Department of Public Health has slowed over these past several weeks. In an effort to focus on concerted outreach to the community on social distancing, and within Bedford businesses, as well as the reopening of Bedford – summer camps, summer programs, Bedford restaurants and other businesses, offices and laboratories, the manufacturing sector, and construction happening in town, as well as important Town business and other emerging issues, this Friday, June 26 will be the last daily update.

Starting on Monday, June 29, we will shift to a twice-weekly update schedule, on Monday and Thursday of each week. The community will continue to receive important COVID and community related information as part of the twice weekly updates, or otherwise as needed.

Reopening Massachusetts – Step 2 of Phase II

Today, Monday, June 22, Step Two (2) of Phase II of the Commonwealth’s four-phase reopening plan, https://www.mass.gov/info-details/reopening-massachusetts, began to allow additional industries to resume operations under sector-specific guidelines. Businesses and sectors set to begin operating in Step Two of Phase II are subject to compliance with all mandatory safety standards. The following are eligible to reopen today in Step Two of Phase II:

• Indoor table service at restaurants;
• Close-contact personal services, with restrictions;
• Retail dressing rooms, by appointment only;
• Offices, at 50 percent capacity

Full list and safety protocols available at www.mass.gov/reopening.

In order to give Step 2 businesses time to prepare, the Administration had previously released sector-specific guidance in advance of Phase II for industries including restaurants, close-contact personal services and sectors not otherwise addressed:

Guidance for Restaurants - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/safety-standards-and-checklist-restaurants

Guidance for Close-Contact Personal Services - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/safety-standards-and-checklist-close-contact-personal-services

Guidance for Other Industries - https://www.mass.gov/resource/reopening-sector-specific-protocols-and-best-practices

Guidance for Sectors Not Otherwise Addressed - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/safety-standards-and-checklist-sectors-not-otherwise-addressed

Before these sectors can resume operations under the guidelines, businesses must meet all safety standards, create a COVID-19 control plan, and complete a self-certification.

To learn how you can support the Smooth Reopening of Bedford Businesses, please view these helpful tips at the following link: https://www.bedfordma.gov/economic-development/news/help-our-small-businesses-reopen-smoothly

This press release was produced by the Town of Bedford. The views expressed here are the author’s own.