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Date: 5/25/2021
NORTHAMPTON – At the Northampton Board of Health’s May 20 meeting, the board agreed to lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions on May 29 to fall in line with the state’s new guidance.
Public Health Director Meredith O’Leary said she was planning on easing all remaining COVID-19 restrictions once the state lifts them on May 29.
“At this point, it is my intention, come May 29, I would like all of our still existing local orders to be rescinded. I would like to be in line with the state. There are few left including the farmers market, the events and performance gatherings, grocery store capacities, food service establishments, we have a construction order, and then we have the declaration of emergency and enforcement orders,” she said.
Based on current data, O’Leary said there was no reason to be stricter than the state.
“At this point with the data that we are looking at, I do not see the point to have anything more restrictive than the state,” she said.
If numbers begin to turn, O’Leary said she would look at restricting certain activities as opposed to a wider blanket policy.
“If we are seeing clusters out of certain activities then that is something that we could address, but I do not think we need a blanket policy anymore. I think we are at that turning point where it is going to be more focused on activities and behavior,” she said.
Despite the pandemic slowly coming to an end, O’Leary said contact tracing will continue due to the transmission potential of COVID-19.
“Contact tracing has been a part of my vernacular since I have been in public health for 18 years and that is never going away. This is a listed communicable disease, and will forever be, so we will continue to contact tracing just like we do with foodborne illness,” she said.
Along with contact tracing, O’Leary said she will work with businesses and provide them with the best practices for the new guidance.
“Part of the work we have going on right now is we knew we were going to be rescinding all these orders, but we are going to be providing advised best practices moving forward. It is not going to be sector specific; we are going to lump certain businesses together and issue them that way. We are still going to be working very closely with businesses,” she said.
As of the meeting, O’Leary said that 67 percent of the eligible population was partially vaccinated while nearly half were fully vaccinated.
“The city of Northampton’s vaccination rate is above the state average. Right now, 67 percent of the population has at least one dose and 49 percent are fully vaccinated, which is your one [Johnson & Johnson] or your two Pfizer and Moderna plus the 14 days. Our people in Northampton are getting their second doses now, which is a good thing,” she said.
O’Leary added that as of May 22 the Northampton clinics had distributed 30,000 vaccine doses but the clinic would be shutting down in June.
“It is our intention to shut down the clinic by the end of June. So, I am no longer going to be getting vaccines from the state. We are ending our first doses next week, and then we are going to finish up our second doses, do our pop-ups, and work with certain agencies to make sure we are hitting certain populations,” she said.
Despite no longer receiving vaccines from the state, O’Leary said she would be working with the Hilltown Health Center to provide vaccines to underserved populations through the Federal Pharmacy Partnership (FPP).
“I have had conversations with Eliza Lake from Hilltown Health Center, she gets her vaccine through the FPP program so we will work together, and she can transfer smaller amounts of vaccines to me so we can still continue to reach the underserved populations,” she said.
The Northampton Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.