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Date: 3/24/2021
SOUTHWICK – The Board of Health revealed on March 18 that a large gathering at the Brass Rail Meeting House is at least partially responsible for the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Southwick.
Health Director Tammy Spencer said during the March 18 Board of Health meeting that there was COVID-19 spread among a large group of people dining and singing together at the Brass Rail on March 5.
Public Health Nurse Kate Johnson said that she knew of 11 cases tied directly to the March 5 gathering. Twenty-one total cases had been reported for the week of March 11 to 18. Because of the spike in cases, Southwick is now back in the high risk category for COVID-19.
“And that is just the people who told us where they were,” said Johnson.
Spencer said that she had spoken to Brass Rail owner Jennifer Nolasco in detail multiple times in the week leading up to the Board of Health meeting as cases tied to the banquet hall were being detected.
Nolasco told Reminder Publishing that she was surprised with how long they spoke about her business during the Board of Health meeting. She denied that the Brass Rail has been ignoring protocols and said she was taken back by Moglin’s comment that she does not care about the situation.
“I’ve always told Tammy to come in and see how we are operating any time, she knows that,” Nolasco said.
Spencer added, “Apparently much was done to get these people to behave, and they decided that they didn’t want to. Even if you have to be the bad guy, be the bad guy and tell these people to leave.”
Spencer reminded the Board of Health that dancing was not permitted under COVID-19 guidelines until March 22 when Phase 4 Step 1 of Gov. Charlie D. Baker’s reopening plan was implemented.
“These people sat next to each other without masks. They drank and they ate, and now we have the UK variant going around and making things worse,” said Spencer.
Selectman Douglas Moglin said that the Brass Rail has been ignoring COVID-19 restrictions since the summer.
“They were 100 people deep in line, front to back all summer. It has been packed on Sundays. My opinion is that [Nolasco] does not care,” said Moglin, “If Jennifer was so serious about enforcing the protocol, she would have kicked them out. Now we are in the red for the next two weeks.”
Johnson angrily pointed out that it is next to impossible for her to contact trace in a situation where there are 150 people in a building with confirmed COVID-19 spread.
“That should not be put on me. That should be put on the owner,” Johnson said, “If she is going to push that, I am going to push my issue as the public health nurse for this town.”
The board agreed to send a Health Department representative and a police officer to the Brass Rail on March 19 to see for themselves whether they are complying with COVID-19 guidelines and to drop off a sign-in book for guests. Guests would be required to sign their name, address, and contact information into the book so that contact tracing efforts could be made easier in the event of another outbreak at the Brass Rail.