Anticipating that Mattapoisett would bounce back to ‘yellow’ on the state’s COVID-19 map, Public Health Nurse Emily Field emphasized in her comments to the Mattapoisett Board of Health during their October 28 meeting at Center School that, even when it’s not making noise, the coronavirus is silently present.
“We need to realize there’s a large part of the population walking around with the virus undiagnosed and asymptomatic,” Field said.
A positive test the night before the meeting had Mattapoisett back in the red zone, and contact tracing efforts were spreading into neighboring communities.
Board of Health member Russell Bailey asked whether any people that have tested positive were currently hospitalized. Field confirmed that there were hospitalizations, but for non-COVID reasons. When some of those cases became inactive a day later, the town was back in the yellow (4-8 cases per 100,000).
“We are doing the contact tracing; we’re not reaching out to the state’s Community Tracing Collaborative, so there’s less lag time. I’m receiving emails 10 days later,” said Field, alluding to a correspondence she had received telling her information she had already confirmed on her own.
Bailey asked how far contract tracing goes. Both Field and former Public Health Nurse Amanda Stone, who accompanied Field to the meeting, both said at once, “It keeps going.”
“In this room,” explained Stone, “if we were close together and didn’t have barriers and you called tomorrow to say, ‘I have COVID-19,’ we all go into quarantine.”
They explained that there would be follow-up on all people in isolation and quarantine and then those people must be released from quarantine. To return to work, many people need to produce a letter from their town stating that they satisfied the regulations. Last week, said Stone, she and Field had to notify another town’s Board of Health about a Mattapoisett situation that impacts their community. “It’s a mushroom,” said Stone.
Board of Health member Kenneth Dawicki told the health nurses that he had been fearing the mushroom had reached him after a bout of sinusitis, but he, fortunately, tested negative. He waited four and a half days for his result.
Stone said that the molecular, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the gold standard for COVID-19 testing. “A lot of people are getting the antigen test,” she said, because of the two-day wait for results.
Stone has postponed her retirement by several months to assist Field with the challenging transition. Both answered several questions posed by the board, but Field hesitated when Chairman Carmelo Nicolosi asked how many hours she has been putting in.
“It’s so hard to keep up,” said Stone. “You never know when the call is going to come in. You wake up in the morning and … Emily is literally working 60 to 80 hours.”
Nicolosi asked Field to keep track of and report her overtime, and he suggested that the town may be able to apply for pandemic-related reimbursement under the provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Nicolosi also pointed out that Field and Stone have been working closely with the schools.
“The ladies here are doing an absolutely fabulous, bang-up job,” said Dawicki, thanking them publicly. “It turns us into a better organization.”
Field noted that, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the highest percentage of transmission occurs along the coast. Stone said the 19-39 age range yields the most positive cases.
Having attended two school committee meetings, Stone said the DPH will be involved for any potential transition from hybrid to full in-person school. Meeting every few weeks to review key indicators, Stone displayed a copy of Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson’s COVID-19 dashboard. She noted that three more busses would be needed for grades K-6 to make a full in-person return in the Tri-Town.
“Continuation of the hybrid model is where we should be right now,” she told the board.
Field reiterated the bottom line of caution: “If you’re keeping physical distance and keeping clean hands and minimizing, … you’re less likely to come in contact,” she said.
Also during the meeting, Nicolosi recused himself and Dawicki presided as acting chairman as Richard Charon of Charon Associates appeared on behalf of John J. Grant Jr. and Elizabeth Hunter, trustees of the Grant Family Trust, seeking four variances at 9 Cedar Street for the proposed repair of a sewage disposal system including a new combination of a septic tank and dosing tank and a new leaching facility to replace the existing cesspool.
The four variances were granted, but with Dawicki’s request of a barrier preventing the parking of cars on the leaching field. The variances will allow for 3 feet of groundwater separation rather than the required 4 feet; a 2-foot over-dig around the leaching field rather than the required 5 feet; the new septic tank to be placed 3 and 4 feet from property lines rather than the required 10 feet; and the new leaching field to come to within 3 feet of the property line rather than the required 10 feet.
Nicolosi noted as he opened and closed the meeting that he will be working with Health Agent Kayla Davis to make Board of Health meetings accessible via Zoom. He anticipates a hybrid arrangement for the next meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2.
Mattapoisett Board of Health
By Mick Colageo