Welcome to the Inter-agency COVID- 19 Local Boards of Health Webinar Please be patient, we will be starting shortly!
Inter-agency COVID-19 Local Boards of Health Webinar November 20, 2020
Webinar Agenda • Welcome and Introductions • Reminders • Agency Announcements and Updates • Questions and Answers
Inter-agency Staff on the Webinar • Jana Ferguson, Assistant Commissioner, DPH • Ron O’Connor, Office of Local and Regional Health, DPH • Dr. Catherine Brown, Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, DPH • Helene Bettencourt and Anne Gilligan, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education • Michael Flanagan, Mary Dozois, and Adam Kinney, Department of Labor Standards • Cheryl Sbarra, Massachusetts Association of Health Boards • Chief Jeff Farnsworth, Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association
MEDIA AND RECORDING ADVISORY • This webinar is intended for local boards of health. Any media who may have joined should disconnect. • Recording is not consented to and not permitted.
LEGAL ISSUES ON WEBINARS • DPH contracts with the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards (MAHB) to provide answers and guidance to health departments and boards of health on a wide range of public health issues including COVID-19. • MAHB produces documents and provides information on these webinars for educational purposes only and are not to be construed as legal advice. • For legal advice, please contact your city or town attorney.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS PROCESS Please note that we will be unable to take questions by phone. Please use the webinar Q&A function for questions or comments. If you are having technical issues, email Jessica Ferland, jessica.ferland@mass.gov
Inter-Agency Updates
UPDATE • Holiday Gatherings Department Background on Updated • of Public Quarantine Guidance Health (DPH) -Jana Ferguson -Dr. Catherine Brown
Holiday Gatherings Mass.gov/holidays
Updates to Lower-Risk States New Hampshire and Maine will be removed from lower-risk states at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, November 21st
Updated Quarantine Guidance • What changed? • Why was it changed?
UPDATE • Clarification: Tents at Restaurants • Holiday Events Questions Department of Labor Standards www.mass.gov/forms/proposals-to-plan-for-an-outdoor- activity-not-provided-for-in-sector-specific-guidance (DLS) Will send link after webinar -Michael Flanagan
Other Updates
Q&A.1 Questions submitted by e-mail before the webinar Please note that we select questions that are of general interest and for which we have a response today. Please send questions in advance of the webinar to : Mike Coughlin at michael.j.coughlin@mass.gov
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “Can DPH comment on the availability of wastewater testing at the local level ?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “How accurate are at-home COVID-19 tests? How are boards of health supposed to do contact tracing? We will not have any idea if someone tests positive. People will not be getting isolation or quarantine instructions. How is this a good thing ?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “ What is the current status of the CTC? Are they accepting new cases at this time ?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “ We are continuing to see a significant time lag in cases appearing in MAVEN. Will this improve going forward ?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “ We have received questions from the public about how the state calculates the percent positivity rate for the state and locally. The concern some individuals have is that they believe repeat tests from higher education are artificially depressing the positive test rate for the general public. Is there a way to tease out how many tests are associated with colleges/universities to see how that impacts overall test positivity ?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “ Will the DESE testing timing guidance for contacts (4-5 days) be switched to match the new state quarantine timing (8 days )?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “ Can you confirm that Black Friday midnight openings will be allowed this year ?”
Questions Submitted Before the Webinar “ We are now in a debate about cleaning a big box store after a positive case. The guidelines say “site” and not department. The person worked in the bakery. We are saying they should be cleaning the entire store since we have no idea if the infected person traveled throughout the store. Can you give me a better clarification to this ?”
Q&A.2 Questions submitted during the webinar Please note that we select questions that are of general interest and for which we have a response today. Some questions may be answered by e-mail to the person who posed the question; other questions will be reviewed/researched and possibly addressed on the next webinar.
Next Webinar Tuesday, November 24 th at 3:00 p.m. Please send questions in advance to Mike Coughlin at michael.j.coughlin@mass.gov No Webinar on Friday, November 27th
Thank You! We welcome your feedback on the webinar format and suggestions for future topics.
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