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Date: 6/30/2021
EASTHAMPTON – Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle and the city’s Board of Health (BOH) officially rescinded certain joint mayoral and COVID-19 orders July 1.
The jointly issued order effectively terminates Easthampton’s March 13, 2020 State of Emergency and coincides with Gov. Charlie Baker’s order to lift the State of Emergency on June 15, 2021. The mayor’s decision to close city buildings to the public starting March 13, 2020 will be rescinded. All orders from the Board of Health were rescinded back on April 30 this year.
According to Brianna Eichstaedt, the Easthampton public health director, people entering the Easthampton Municipal Building unvaccinated must wear a mask, per state and Centers for Disease Control recommendations. “Individuals who are fully vaccinated will not need to wear a mask inside,” said Eichstaedt. “If someone feels uncomfortable, we will accommodate and wear a mask if requested.”
Although the State of Emergency for Massachusetts ended June 15, the city of Easthampton still needed some time to plan for re-opening by talking with city employees and departments, according to Eichstaedt.
“Throughout the pandemic, we received little if any advanced notice from the state when these changes happened, so we were somewhat blindsided in a way,” said Eichstaedt. “We needed a few weeks to get City Hall ready to open for the public.”
According to LaChapelle, the Board of Health (BOH) held more power regarding certain government operations when a State of Emergency was declared. “The Board totally stepped up,” said LaChapelle, who added that Eichstaedt and the Health Department also did an “amazing job” throughout this pandemic. “The conversations were really collegial, and they already had this scientific foundation because they all work in the medical field to really look at all the data out there.”
Easthampton’s Health Department and Board of Health were able to act quickly on a lot of decisions, according to Eichstaedt.
“Many of the state changes did not come with advanced notice,” said Eichstaedt. “So, at any moment, I was on the phone with the BOH chair, my local colleagues, the mayor’s office, etc. trying to figure out our best course of action.”
Eichstaedt told Reminder Publishing that she learned more during the pandemic about how fractured public health in general is and how there is a need for more funding, regionalization and support. With some towns being more equipped, trained and staffed than others, there was some confusion amongst business owners who were told one thing from one town and something else from Easthampton.
Despite this, Eichstaedt said that it feels great to be able to walk somewhere without needing a mask, or to not have to worry about certain gathering limits.
“I’m so grateful for the efficacy of the vaccine and for the large percentage of the population that got it,” said Eichstaedt. “There was a point where we were fielding hundreds of calls, complaints, questions, inquiries etc. The calls have slowed down and it’s a sigh of relief to get back to our normal duties, although I feel as if we’re busier than ever now that everything is opening up.”
LaChapelle expanded Easthampton’s Department of Public Health, and if re-elected, she hopes to continue expansion over the next 18 months. She also believes that the city will focus their attention on wellness checks, health metrics and what types of variants may pop up over the next five years during flu season.
A lot of future work will be dedicated to preventative initiatives, particularly working with the elderly population and young families to see where they are health-wise. “There’s so many unknown and unintentional consequences to COVID-19, and I don’t think we know them all,” said LaChapelle. “I think in the next five years we’re really going to see some glaring gaps that we’re really going to have to act on very quickly or we’re going to see some permanent damage to quality life.”
As of press time, Easthampton has one active COVID-19 case and a 0 percent seven-day positivity test rate.