Bedford Town Publishes Coronavirus Update For May 28

Press release from the Town of Bedford:

May 28, 2020

The Bedford COVID-19 Task Force met Thursday, May 28, 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, May 28, 2020, there have been a total of two hundred seventeen (217) 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 twelve (112) are Bedford residents not living in a healthcare/long term care setting. Thirty-seven (37) 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. Please see “Data Reporting Explained” below for detailed information on why Bedford experienced an increase in positive case counts today.

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.

Sixty-three (63) 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

Data Reporting Explained

The Bedford Board of Health has consistently worked to identify, communicate with and conduct contact traces, as appropriate, on COVID-19 positive cases (Bedford residents) specifically attributed to Bedford by the MA DPH communicable disease surveillance database (MAVEN). Upon review of the data, several times each day, when an attributed positive case is identified that is not currently a Bedford resident (determined from provided demographic data or interviewing), we ensure the case is referred to the appropriate city/town Board of Health for appropriate follow-up. Today, we are providing an update on recently identified data anomalies in an effort to openly communicate with the Bedford community on some COVID-19 positive case count fluctuations that occurred today and we will see over the coming days.

On April 15th, the Board of Health first reported two identified issues where COVID-19 positive cases were inappropriately attributed to Bedford. The first issue was that wide-spread testing at long term care facilities in town resulted in staff, who live out of town, indicating their “location” as Bedford and being added to our total MAVEN case count. The second issue was that, COVID-19 positive people, living out of town (at a long term care, at school, at a different permanent residence) indicated their “location” as Bedford when in fact they live out or town or out of state and are being followed there.

While the BOH continues to rectify these data discrepancies while ensuring that all positive cases are being appropriately followed-up by the responsible Board of Health or facility, contact tracing conducted and isolation and quarantine protocols followed, we have recently identified a third anomaly with COVID-19 positive case reporting in Bedford by MAVEN. The most recent issue is that there is a lag in the BOH’s receipt of COVID-19 positive case reports from a long term care facility through MAVEN. It appears to be a communication issue between the lab conducting the analysis, the facility requesting the analysis and the state agency that oversees long term care facilities as to who is reporting the positive cases to MAVEN. While the facility itself monitors these cases and conducts contact tracing, the positive case counts were never entered into MAVEN for BOH tracking and positive case count reporting.

This anomaly is in addition to the two existing concerns, first reported on April 15th. While the BOH continues to work with the labs, local facilities and MA DPH to have the identified cases assigned or reassigned to their appropriate community for surveillance, the Bedford COVID-19 positive cases counts have markedly increased today due to the “data dump” into MAVEN. Future fluctuations are anticipated once non-resident long-term care staff and out of town folks attributing their location to Bedford are removed from Bedford’s case count and reassigned to the appropriate community.

We anticipate MA DPH’s cooperation in rectifying all the data anomalies but this may take some time. Please be advised that today’s increase in positive case counts does not represent a surge in positive cases throughout Bedford but an identified COVID-19 cluster in a long term care facility that has been closed to the public months and is being monitored by internal facility staff, state regulators and infection control specialists. As such, the potential for community spread by impacted residents at this facility is considered low. Bedford is not alone in having to rectify erroneous data attributions; however, the Board of Health and the COVID-19 task force are on the forefront of openly communicating to our residents on a daily basis. As such, we are compelled to inform and update the public as data changes, explain the change and provide an accurate case count for our community.

Annual Town Meeting

Yesterday, the Select Board voted to recommend, with the full support, and forthcoming declaration, of the Town Moderator, that Annual Town Meeting be held on Saturday, July 11, 2020 at 9:00 AM on Sabourin Field (Bedford High School Football Field.)

This decision followed weeks of work and site evaluation by the Select Board, Town Moderator, Board of Health, and the COVID-19 Task Force. Although the scheduling of a Saturday morninngTown Meeting will have impacts on the religious observations of members of our community, we are, unfortunately, in extraordinary times, with extraordinary challenges, and all alternatives were evaluated.

In preparation of holding Town Meeting, the working group highlighted above evaluated the following questions:

• Can we ensure the safety of the voters?
• Have the voters felt that the process of Annual Town Meeting is legitimate? Legitimacy will be measured by the people who attend – and by those who do not. Are the conditions such that an unacceptable number of voters are disenfranchised?
• Does the meeting allow voters to see, hear, speak, and make amendments and vote? Can Town Meeting serve its deliberative function?

With the full support of the Town Moderator, and after consultation with the Select Board, Public Health Director, Town Clerk, and the COVID-19 Task Force, we feel comfortable that Annual Town Meeting can meet and exceed the questions posed above.

Although Town Meeting will not look and feel the same as it has in past years, the Select Board, Moderator, and Town staff are confident we can make the process as safe as possible, while ensuring that the democratic and legislative functions of Town Meeting remain intact.

Please note, as the Governor’s order regarding large-group outdoor gatherings does not allow for tents, as they are considered a “confined space”, the meeting is beginning, with registration starting at 8 AM, to accommodate for cooler temperatures. As the Town has historically done with weather-related impacts to holding Town Meeting, if the weather on the day of the meeting is deemed unsafe by the Town Moderator, Select Board and public health and safety staff, the meeting will be postponed until a later date.

Town Meeting will consider a streamlined warrant as outlined below, to ensure an efficient meeting:

Proposed Articles for July 11, 2020 Annual Town Meeting

Article 2- Debate Rules

Article 3- Consent Article

Article 4- Bills of Prior Years

Article 6- Revolving Funds Expenditure Limits

Article 7 (partial)- Community Preservation Budget–Fiscal Year 2021

Article 23- Proposed Fiscal Year 2021 Capital Projects Plan

Article 27- Demand Fee Increase

Article 28- PEG Access and Cable Expense Related Budget Fiscal Year 2021

Article 29- Supplement Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 and Articles of the 2019 Annual Town Meeting

Article 30- Salary Administration Plan Bylaw Amendment-Classification & Wage Schedule

Article 31- Operating Budgets–Fiscal Year 2021

Article 32- Ambulance Enterprise Budget–Fiscal Year 2021

Article 33- Salary Plan–Additional Funding

Article 35- Supplement Accrued Leave Fund

Article 38- Free Cash

Proposed articles to postpone to November Special Town Meeting 2020

Article 1- Reports of Town Officers and Committees

Article 5- General Bylaw Amendment- Revolving Funds

Article 7 (partial)- CPA (Remove all capital projects)

Articles 8-22- General Bylaw Amendments/ Zoning ADU

Articles 24-26- Bond Authorizations (Police/Fire/Library HVAC)

Article 34- OPEB Appropriation

Article 36- 300th Anniversary Stabilization Fund

Article 37- Stabilization Fund Appropriation

Please stay tuned for more information on meeting registration protocols, site maps, and other important article and event details.

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