March 13, 2020 Health and Wellness, Mayor, Schools

Mayor Lungo-Koehn and City staff continue to monitor any available reports and updates regarding the Coronavirus, and are adapting our policies, procedures and recommendations accordingly. Updates available as of March 13 at 2:30 p.m. are as follows:

City Buildings & City Services

All public buildings are closed to the public as of Monday, March 16. We anticipate that buildings will be closed through at least March 27, but will continue to update the community as information is available. Essential City services such as trash and recycling pickup, code enforcement response, police and fire response, DPW operations, and constituent services through the Mayor’s Office will continue as normal at this time.

The Recreation Department will be closed to the public during this period. This includes LoConte Rink. Recreation programming has been temporarily suspended. The Recreation Department is working on potential refunds and/or credits for future programs for any family or individual who is affected by a cancellation for which they already paid. We appreciate your patience as we work through these details. We will communicate any updates as soon as possible.

The Medford Public Library will be accepting book orders online and via phone, but will be closed for walk-in service. To reserve books you can visit www.medfordlibrary.org, or call 781-395-7950. Orders will be assembled and placed for pickup in the hallway outside of the Adult Services entrance of the library. The library will be operating Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. for these orders. To limit circulation of books (and potential germs), the library is encouraging anyone who checks out books during this period to keep all books and other materials until further notice. No overdue notices or late fees will be applied. (Any books that are returned will be sanitized before recirculation.) And don’t forget, many of the library’s eResources are available remotely. You can utilize ebooks and audiobooks as well as streaming music, films, and TV shows. Visit www.medfordlibrary.org and click on “Read. Listen. Watch.”

If you do not have an urgent matter needing attention, please hold all requests for service and all applications until a later time. While we will do our best to process all regular items, we ask for your patience and understanding as we adjust to this unprecedented international situation. Again, we will work to process all urgent requests.

Medford Public Schools will be closed to students and teachers through at least March 27. The City and School Department will reassess information prior to March 27 and make a determination as to when the schools may reopen. At this time, most of our neighboring communities have closed public schools for between 2 and 8 weeks. We are in regular communication with leaders in our neighboring communities to make decisions in the best interests of our students, staff, and the community at large.

School Updates

Medford Public Schools will be closed to students and teachers through at least March 27. The City and School Department will reassess information prior to March 27 and make a determination as to when the schools may reopen. At this time, most of our neighboring communities have closed public schools for between 2 and 8 weeks. We are in regular communication with leaders in our neighboring communities to make decisions in the best interests of our students, staff, and the community at large.

Superintendent Edouard-VIncent is working directly with the City’s Food Security Task Force, and her staff, to implement plans for providing food and other supports to students who need them. As of March 13, the following options for food access are:

“Grab n’ Go” food service options will be available Monday – Friday, 12 – 1 p.m., at:

The McGlynn complex

The Medford Youth Center on Forest St.

Willis Ave. – 148 Exchange St.

The Unitarian Universalist Food Pantry is open Thursdays, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

The new Mystic Ave. Community Market is open:

Monday, Tuesday, Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wednesday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Looking for activities for students while school is closed? Remember that the Medford Public Library is a valuable resource. The library will be accepting book orders online and via phone, but will be closed for walk-in service. To reserve books you can visit www.medfordlibrary.org, or call 781-395-7950. Orders will be assembled and placed for pickup in the hallway outside of the Adult Services entrance of the library. The library will be operating Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. for these orders. To limit circulation of books (and potential germs), the library is encouraging anyone who checks out books during this period to keep all books and other materials until further notice. No overdue notices or late fees will be applied. And don’t forget, many of the library’s eResources are available remotely. You can utilize ebooks and audiobooks as well as streaming music, films, and TV shows. Visit www.medfordlibrary.org and click on “Read. Listen. Watch.”

**IMPORTANT NOTE: The food access options above have been identified and organized for families and individuals most in need. Please be compassionate, and reserve these resources for our community members who need them most.

Public Meetings / Events

Any public event and gathering is restricted to 25 people or less. When 25 people or less are expected to participate in a public gathering, social distancing measures should be followed. Social distancing includes people maintaining at least 6 feet distance from all other individuals in a group setting and avoiding physical contact such as handshakes or other physical greetings.

For the week of March 16, the City Council meetings have been canceled

The 5g meeting scheduled for Wednesday 3/18 has been canceled

The City is currently reviewing and adjusting policies and procedures for all other board and commission meetings with respect to the Governor’s recent announcement on Open Meeting Law guidelines. We will post updates as soon as they are available, by early next week.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: Though the above guidelines are suggestions for public gatherings, the best and most effective tool for slowing the spread of COVID-19 is to avoid contact with others. Therefore, we strongly advise that if you do not have an urgent need to be in a public gathering at this time, please avoid doing so. We urge private businesses, organizations, and event organizers to implement similar measures to those outlined above, minimize large events and meetings and where possible, encourage employees to instead host conference calls or online meetings.

Board of Health Update

As of March 13, the City of Medford has been notified by MA DPH of 2 presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. One case is linked to a recent Biogen conference, and the second is linked to Tufts University. Tufts University has set up a COVID-19 update page on its website with additional information and to answer questions from the Tufts community at coronavirus.tufts.edu.

As of March 13, MA DPH is reporting 6 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 102 presumptive positive cases within the state of Massachusetts.

Supports for Local Businesses

Are you a local business owner? Did you know that the U.S. Small Business Association is offering low-interest federal disaster loans to small businesses suffering substantially as a result of the Coronavirus? For more information visit sba.gov.

As this situation continues to evolve, we encourage residents to remember and help support our local Medford businesses. Shop local for your needs, including stocking your emergency preparedness kid for your family. If you opt to stay at home, consider ordering take out from any of our incredible local restaurants.

City’s Actions To-Date

Mayor Lungo-Koehn is in regular discussion with leaders from surrounding communities, including tele-conferences and information sharing across numerous departments.

Decisions to close schools and city buildings, and cancel events and programs are not being made lightly. We are communicating with other local leaders and creating recommendations and policies based on these discussions as well as following the advice of our state and federal health officials.

If and when presumptive positive cases are reported by MA DPH, the Medford Board of Health is directly involved in any and all necessary follow up actions.

Frequent updates are posted at medfordma.org, on the city’s social feeds, and via the City’s robo call system.

Important Links and Additional Resources

Center for Disease Control and Prevention

DPH

For local businesses: sba.gov

For URGENT Questions, email mayor@medford-ma.gov or call the Mayor’s Office at 781-393-2409.