Okay. So the meeting is open and the first item on the agenda is to review the me, the minutes of our August 12th meeting. I read them. I did not see any. I haven't seen any comments on the minutes. So you have a motion or other. Errors. Anybody have comments on the minutes. No one else. Okay. Can I have a motion to accept them and Tim, you weren't here. So you can't. Vote on them. We have a motion to accept them. I'll move to accept the minutes of the August. 10th meeting. I'll second it. All in favor. Maureen. Hi. Steve. Hi. Nancy. Hi. It was August 12th, by the way. Sorry. Can I say August? I said the 10th because I was on August 12th. I was looking at something else here that was eight, 10, eight from 2020. Okay. So the first item under all business is the Amherst college college. So the Amherst college is an institutional bio safety committee request. Which we discussed and we voted it by a roll call. But I'm bringing it up because of the old recommendation, a recombinant DNA technology and infectious biological agent technology. Which is the Amherst college. And that's the 18th of April. And I was wondering if we want to review and revise these. Yeah, but I think what Alex was asking is whether people could come from outside of the town of Amherst and presumably they can. But that has to be voted on. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. So do we want to look at the regulations as they were. 17th 2008 and do we want to review them and make the the amendments or revisions to them. And would someone like to do the lead on that. If all takes is that one thing I'll be happy to do that sure. Okay. More than that though is are we thinking these might be, you know, significantly out of date. We should read them and see if we, I look at them quickly. But I didn't, I just wanted to bring it up today. So I think maybe all of us should read them. Yeah. And see if we want to do any other revisions because they are 13 years old. The other electronic. Yeah, you have an electronic copy. It's, it's listed under our regulations. Right, right. Yeah. And then we should look at other towns if they have newer ones to see. I mean, you were saying something more. Yeah, I just noticed in the letter from Alex that there was also though. How do they have they been paying their. I think we need to look at them to review and revise them. Yeah. I think the first step is that we all look at them and read them for next meeting. Then decide what we want to do for revision. Who would take the lead for revising them. Does that make sense? Sure. You have any other comments? Nancy, can you repeat the name of the. The regulation just so I can. Yes. It is called. Thank you. Recomment. DNA technology and infectious biological agent regulations of the board of Amherst board of health. And they don't have. But I remember being there. Doing this and it was the effective April 17th, 2008. And it says the board shall annually review these regulations and make such. Amendments as it deems necessary and appropriate. I do not think we have reviewed them. Since 2008. So we need to review. And make any amendments. And then I think we should have. The people who, who were involved. Sign it too. I'm surprised that wasn't done. But. That was 13 years ago. So we will all read them. And see where we are next step in revising them and making amendments. For the next meeting. Can we, I think I need a motion. Can I make the motion. Chair. Okay. Thank you. I move that we all review. The. Recomment DNA technology and infectious biological agent regulations. And that we. Look at making any amendments or revisions as necessary and appropriate. So the first step is that we'll all review them. And then make our comments at our next meeting. I'll second that. All in favor. Maureen. I. Tim. I. Steve. I'll second that. All in favor. Maureen. I. Tim. I. Steve. Nancy. Okay. Thank you. Next is the racism as a public health crisis. And I want to thank everybody for their work on this. And we have the 2001 draft. Did everybody get it. With the. I started it. Steve did. Revision. Tim did excellent. Revisions to and Maureen added. References. Where would you like to go with this tonight? Why do we use Tim's draft? Because he has specific suggestions. Yes. Yes. I really liked your suggestions, Tim. I thought. It. Enhance the work that was done. I think it's. I thought it enhanced the work that was done. What do other people. That one question about just the wording. So in the race, in the paragraph that starts racism has played a central role. Yes. You have a question. Yeah. So the sentence that Tim added marginalized groups are disadvantaged in all the social determinants of health. And then I don't understand that next phrase. I think maybe you mean. Making racism a fundamental cause. Of ill health, maybe, or some, something's missing there. What is it that's a fundamental cause of ill health? Exactly. The disadvantage status. Of marginalized groups. So I don't know. It's not clear. Sounds like maybe marginal groups would be a fundamental cause, which we don't mean. So how about saying, just add. Say that. How about after the worry or after determinants of health say, making racism a fundamental cause of ill health? Is that valid? Or. Disadvantages. Are a fundamental cause of ill health. I don't know. Yeah. Or we could. We could make it. The marginalization. If I'm not wrong. Yeah. Or we could, we could make it. The marginalization. A fundamental cause of ill health. To be the whole sense. So marginalized groups are disadvantaged. In all the low social determinants of health. And marginalization of particular groups. You say, you know. The fundamental cause of ill health. We're referring to marginalization, right? Marginalized groups are disadvantaged in all the social determinants of health. Making marginal is. Making this marginalization a fundamental cause of ill health. Yes. Yeah. Okay. And under. Addressing. The racial and ethnic health inequities. We had questions whether. The racial and ethnic health inequities. Bullet. Three and bullet four were repetitive. And I think. The new rewording of bullet three. Clarifies that. Yes. Yes. It makes it much better. Yes. So that was my thought there. Yeah. Now, Tim. I think in the margin you were saying to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All of that in there. The whole thing, because it will greatly enlarge that thing. I think that part of it. Oh. This is coming from a publication, you know, rather than from a. Website or a blog. Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah, that is the difference, you know. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But we have the reference to Jones. 2016. Yeah. And then we have. Kamara Jones's definition without expanding it. Tim. I'm fine with that. But this one looks like it has. Much more clarity. In terms of this. Bulleted points. But, but it is left to the. I was using my iPad and I did not get that other piece on my iPad. Oh, it's a comment in the margin. Yeah, I don't want to go back here. I can't seem to be get I can't seem to get it. It's not all opening up for me unless I leave this and go on my other computer. I could maybe send it to you. Let me try this. Okay, send that to me. I'm going to make put it on a document and see if I work. For some reason. It might take me longer to do this than it's worth. I'm just. All I'm getting is Amherst college board of health board of health minutes. H nine to six minutes and PFAS the other ones aren't coming. The other stuff is not coming up for some reason. I think I'm just sending it right now. My email. All right. Doc. Okay. I think that's right place. It starts with the public. American public health. Yeah. Asserts that racism and social system with multiple dimensions, individualism. And the strength. That just continues. I'm sure as before there's just. I was truncated, but it's the same as before. Okay. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Okay. I think it's easier to read when it's bulleted, but. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And it makes it stand out. So we're happy with. The edits. Any more discussion or should we move to. Accept this. Comments. Discussion. Someone want to make a motion to accept it. The edits. Probably. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. You do it, Tim. Oh, I would like to make a motion to accept. The statement on racism and public health. With the modification suggested. Okay. It's been the motion. It's been seconded any further discussion. Okay. So we'll vote. Tim. Hi. Morning. Hi. Steve. Nancy. Hi. Okay. I'll take care of writing it up and getting it. Getting it formatted. Okay. And then we'll have to figure out. Signing it, whether we go over to the. Health department to sign it. Yeah. Because we haven't had any. Instructions on now that we're all virtual. Can we virtually sign things? Certainly if we have an electronic signature, we could insert it all in there for everybody sends me their signature. But I don't know if that's what you want to do. Have a scan copy of the signature. I can send it to you. Okay. So what I do is I. Do my signature. I scan it and send it to you. Okay. If you don't have it, maybe it's not worth it, but if most people, I would have one. I don't have them, but I can do it. Okay. We can always send someone out if you want. That works. Lily. I can go over to Steve's and sign it. Signing party. It lives around the corner. Okay. Well, I'll send it to you. If you don't have it, maybe it's not worth it. Most people I would have one. I don't have them, but I can do it. Okay. Well, I'll, I'll try it and if it works, if not, I'll walk over to Steve's and sign it. Yeah, I have, I don't have one either, but I think it seems like a good idea. And maybe I should have one. I think in 10 or years or so years ago, I tried to do that and it wasn't so simple. I think it's easier now. That's what happened to me. Okay. So I will work on that. Okay. Board of health member appointment update. Now Angela mill sent out dates. For the interview of the candidates. And that is in the process of being finalized. I put together. Questions. For me to ask. And I don't know if people. Have questions. I haven't finalized what ones. I don't know if any of you have questions. You want me to ask her if you want me to tell you what kind of questions. I have. So is this with some members of the town council then? Is that what we're talking about? That's with Paul. Someone. Jim. Community representative. Yes. A community representative. Jen. And myself. Let me find the email from Angela. Oh, I was looking in the wrong one. Date for interviews. And we're not on September 7th. Myself. And. Jen, that's what I have. Do you have any more? Read the residency advisory committee. Yeah, I think that's it. I think the only thing to be concerned about is if several people are going to be interviewed, it's unfair to fix the questions and make sure everybody gets asked the same questions. But if only one person has been interviewed, I would just leave it up to the people involved. Yes. I think what we should, but I could always ask, I would ask the same questions to every interview. Yeah. And I didn't know if you wanted any. Input on the questions. Mine are like, what do you know about the board of health? Why are you interested in becoming a member? What experience do you have that relates to our mission? And what experience do you have that will. Be a value to the board. And how much time will you be able to contribute? Other questions I had, or what do you think are good characteristics of a board of health member? And what does public health mean to you? Are some of the questions. So good. Do you like those questions? I can type them up and send them to you. Yeah, I think those are really good. Okay. So I put that together. What I will do is I will type them up so that I ask the same questions to every candidate. One thing you can also think about that expectations. Okay. You know, because often that big also becomes important. What are your expectations. Related to, in terms of. Compensations or. The terms of the workload. Okay. General information, because I think we would like to know. There's no. Or the candidate. Is thinking, you know, before the interview. So. Oh yeah. And what are their. Orientation. Okay. Good. Thank you, Tim. Okay. Anything else now. We have several things. And then we have a bit under topics not anticipated. That will take time. So. The new discussion is the. H. Nine to six. We have a letter from. Nancy. Sorry to interrupt. It's going to be making the meeting, but she says about 545 as early as she could jump on. Okay. So we can move to other things. Okay. The Craig's door. Our variance is going to be postponed till October. Meeting. And Jen, do you want to talk about review the board of health information? Yeah. So I just wanted to. Let folks know we've got a lot of input that our. Health department and board of health web pages needed a little revamping. So we really take this very seriously revamping means. You know, it's not just what it looks like, even though, you know, you want to see the information changing, but someone said it was really hard to find the board of health information. So I changed a few pages. So one thing was the board of health page where people could really see the dates of the meetings and I'll make sure that that continues on to 2022. With really clear links to the zoom meetings. Beyond that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the help of it. And Brianna. We went over just did some gentle upgrades to the COVID dashboard. And maybe it's not even dashboard, but it's the cases.  You can just sort of, you know, hear, hear me out. But I did want our information to have our current information. And then I really wanted to get some other information that could be compared to other people's dashboards, you know, pockets of information that you could see from state to town to city. So we did put up the 14 day average incidents rate. So that's something they'll be updated every week. It looks at 14 days, two weeks. Every week it looks two weeks back. So that's what we did. My goal, and I just need a little more time to do this, is to put up a PDF with a real dashboard with real stats that people can see what's going on in Amherst. Because there's certain things that they're hard to get from DPH. So that's going to be something I'm going to be doing and putting up.  Do people know this?  You know, a big question we get is, do our cases include UMass, Amherst College and Hampshire College. That is in one of the explanations, but I really just want to make it that you click on and you can see what's, what's going on. So just to answer that, our cases do include everyone who resides in the town, the geographic area of Amherst, and UMass on their dashboard, they post staff, professors, students who are in the UMass community. So that means that they live in Sunderland or Hadley, they're counted on theirs. So that's very, I mean, it's clear, it's not clear, but it's nice to have information that you can transfer from place to place so you can, you can sort of figure out where we are, where we've been, you know, what's our trajectory. What's our COVID case count. Then just an extension of that is vaccine. It's something that you can go to COVID and then vaccine. We did a little clinic vaccine clinic update. And just to let you all know, it used to say we would serve close for June and we're done, but we're going to be starting up our clinics again. We actually are going to be doing, we're going to be doing a pop-up clinic. And that's going to be at Groth Park next Thursday. And so I know there's some volunteers on the board. So I'll be asking if anyone wants to help come do that. But that's, that's some outreach that we can do. That is intramural football. I don't know if it's Pop Warner, but that really draws in a lot of folks from different communities, like the Delta Town and then some different cultures that come to use the water, the, the nice water park there. So we're going to continue those pointed vaccine clinics. I think it's really important to keep at the number of folks that we have not vaccinated yet. So that's one of our missions.  So we're going to be continuing those. One thing I want to interject is I have found it hard. And I imagine everyone's found it hard to figure out what's going on with booster doses and third doses. So just, you know, for clarity sake, once we get the, okay, we'll start up with those, but the FDA has not approved booster doses. You know, we heard it from Biden. We've heard eight months, five months hasn't been approved by the FDA, but the third dose for immunocompromised people has been approved, but we haven't helped those clinics because they're for folks that really have moderate to severe immunosuppressive diseases. So, so on to another topic. I don't see the pop up clinic coming up here. Oh, it's not on there. I'm sorry. Okay. But you know what, thank you. It's going to go up soon and it'll go here. And then I'll speak to Brianna and it and we'll, we'll push it out or whatever the terminology. Okay, great. And try to do some advertising. Okay. So one thing I have a question about the how things will look. And I wondered, I don't can't really look at it now and I'll do that later, but can you separate out the ones that are like non-college related. I mean, and I know you mentioned something about that, but it will the numbers say this, this many were Amherst residents who are not college students. And these are who are. Yeah. On our dashboard, we're, we aren't going to be able to do that accurately. What we can do is we can put age groups up. So I can run a spreadsheet. And do five, you know, groups of, you know, five or three. And we can see where the, the, the ages. You know, we could get this information and it could be really exact, but the way that Amherst you mass puts their data in, it's, I always forget this. It's not red cap, but it's another platform and the way it mixes with Maven. I think they have to manually input it. And when they're going really fast, they might not be accurate. They're great at what they do. So we don't separate out that way, but we can do ages. Do you think that's useful? Yeah, I don't know. I just wondered, because Steve actually had a little graph that he kept last year with, he tried to make that obvious that's, which he would circulate, right? Steve, I don't know. I don't know if I can do that. I know it would look good for a few months there. So I could go back to that. Yes. But I think, I think maybe Jen is really, you know, I was just doing it from where did I get that information? It was. Maybe readily available, but I think Jen is on onto it. And I think maybe. Yeah. I'll see what it looks like. Yeah. I'll see what I did. I forget. Yeah. Would it be possible as you're doing this to get some community members periodically, just to review it and have what they think of it? Yeah, that's a really great idea. I know how you do it, but in the future, if you could work that out so that we could get community feedback to see how, how it is. Yeah. I think that's a really good point. And then just one thing is when the numbers are low, like let's say we're just coming along at two or, you know, zero is that hopefully in the future, if we get one student, let's say we get one student in Amherst college, I think it's almost a hippo violation. Yeah. So you, you say between zero and five students. I'm not quite sure. Yeah, I think you're right. I know that one thing about websites is not a lot of, not everybody looks at them, but it has a way. My mother. I know we tried to use our health center website about how to reach students, but they don't weren't really going there, you know, and I was thinking about trying to reach some of the under. Um, serve populations in Amherst and I don't know how many people in those populations serve, look at these kinds of websites and what they might think of them if they did, but they be, have resources helpful to them. So that's maybe another source of trying out. Yeah. Could we get a Facebook approved space? You know, I don't post on Facebook, but I look on Facebook, I don't know if that reaches other people, but I don't, and then what we can get town approved. Yeah. It's maybe just a thought for the futures, how we use these tools to kind of reach people. That aren't being reached now. I want to call the community for what, what would be most useful for them to get information. So that's a great idea. I want to jump ahead and then I'm going to come back. This is, but I hadn't thought of this. Um, we have a new volunteer in the Amherst health department. Her name is one. And she said, I could say her name. Wana Trujillo. And she worked in the housing. Uh, service here and she's, um, she's very hooked into the Latin community, Spanish speaking. And she wants to do outreach for us. And I think she might be someone that can really help. She knows folks that haven't been vaccinated. Cause they've said, oh, those clinics weren't for us. You know, so she's going to really help us, um, with, with many aspects. And that's something I hadn't thought of. So now is there any way you could. Have her and pilot her. Putting together something on a community health worker. That then we can ask for funding.   And we can start requesting money. Yeah. Cause we really need to have this funded. Permanent piece of our health department. Yeah. I agree with you. You know, when, when COVID.  And for all of you, you know, the Amherst human service network and all of our great colleagues and partners, you know, we really appreciate that. Thank you Amherst, you know, senior center for helping us with food and family outreach. And we were, we worked hard to get that set, but, you know, post COVID. Or are we ever going to be post COVID, but just going, you know, forward. Some like one is going to be really integral to what we do here. And then, not that we need it now, but to, to think of this while you're, while you're working on that. I know because we are the emergency contact for our grand children in Beltertown schools. Last March, April, you know, in 2020, May, June, and I don't know how much farther the public health nurse. Every, every, every year, every month had a update in English. And I think it was also available in Spanish through, you know, that emergency town. Announcement that maybe think of. Because they, they kind of kept the information out on that. Reverse 911 call or whatever. I don't know what she actually used. And she retired. So, and then it wasn't done. But I found it very helpful. In March, April, and June of 2020. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. There are a lot of great uses. Yeah. And then I'm just going to say if. The nor brick is on as a attendee, let me know, put your hand up and we'll, we'll shift back to you. And then I'm just going to say one more thing about our, our board of health page. I mean, our vaccine page is that we're putting the Amherst vaccination rate up there. So this is posted and we'll change it weekly. And there's a little asterisk next to it, but it says the individuals and Amherst with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is 76%. And this percentage has been calculated using DPH data. And here's a link to our calculation methods. And with that, you can click to a spreadsheet. That has been. Done with great care and calculation by Steven George. So thank you for support with that. So I think that's my update with the board of health. Health department webpage, but I want to keep it fresh. And appreciate any input. Steve, do you have anything to say about the vaccine rate? Yeah. The one thing I have to see it to make sure, but the wording, you shouldn't say that the rate is 76% or anything because it is, that's a kind of a model. Some assumptions. So you would say that this is a, it's an estimate or a quantitative, an estimate using information from different sources, because there is no single source that tracks students getting vaccinated in their home communities. We just want to make sure that we don't, it's what we believe it is with reasonable assumptions. Okay. Thank you so much. Cause I was really trying to, to, to put in there that. That we're really, this has been calculated precisely, but it's not your right. It's estimated to the truest. Value. Using resources. Okay. Thank you, Steve. And of course, I'm sure people on the board of health realize, but you know, the issues that we have to deal with. So they're incorrectly, you know, elevating the, the percentage in those communities. And falsely reducing it in ours. Oh, excuse me, Steve. I didn't mean to override you. Thank you, Steve. And of course, I'm sure people on the border health realize, but you know, the issue is that students are listed here. Basically through census that does not keep track of the fact that many were away and were vaccinated in their home communities where they probably gave their home community as their address.  Thank you. Excuse me, Steve. I didn't mean to override you. Peter. Peter has his hand up. Did you have a question? Peter? Yeah. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Yeah. Hi. My name is Peter. And I'm a Amherst resident. I was just Peter would you. Could you please just say your full name? So just. Yeah, that's fine. Well, yeah. I prefer just last initials. But I can. Yeah. No, don't worry about it. Okay. I'll just say Peter. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No worries. Yeah. Just Peter's fine. Or I can I can always contact you individually. That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. But I just want to make a public comment about COVID measures, but I can jump in later if that's going to be discussed later on. I wasn't sure what point of the meeting that was going to be talked about. So I can always wait for that about about prevention measures like masking and and town policy on that. Yeah, that'll be coming up, Peter. Yeah. Yeah. No problem. I'll jump in later then. OK, yeah. No, thank you. I have one question on the vaccine rate, Steve. I haven't looked in the past week and a half. Do we have it by race to or just by age groups? I think that if there is race, it's it's including all age groups. They're certainly not broken down by age. Not broken down anymore. Yeah. OK, because earlier, I remember seeing not age, but race. It's broken up by age, for sure. And then there's some racial information, but it's not the it's not doubly broken down by age and race. No, but I'm wondering if we could put just the race information to that separate. The fact that a large number of people of color are our students, you know, and so then they're going to we're going to run to the same problem that it's going to underestimate that. And I don't know how we would ever figure that one out. But yeah, we could put it there would be it's definitely going to be an underestimate because many students of color were not here and possibly got vaccinated elsewhere. OK. OK. Thank you, Steve. Yeah, thank you for all that work, Steve. No, no problem. Yeah. It was it was fun doing with that with you. I really appreciate it. I learned a lot. I think that's what I have for the web page. And I don't know of Lenore's with us yet. Lenore isn't. But I. Let's see, where is this? I got some other information that I'll just. Tell you. I find it. Amherst has a 20 year old toxic chemical regulation. And then, of course, where is this? I emailed Mike Morris. And he said right now that the Amherst Regional School System uses an integrated pest management firm. They adhere strictly to the state regulations for schools, which is a higher bar than other public spaces. Given that there aren't any local policies on this, we will adjust if the state changes their regulations. But we do have this toxic chemical regulations, which are 20 years old. So we should look at this and revise it April 9th, 2001. And there again, there are no signatures of who were part of. Putting this together. And I think all of that was done prior to Julie Fetterman being on a being on the health department. And I think that might I can't remember when Julie came on, but that I just thought I'd give you that information. I just said one thing to add. I remember this subject came up about pesticides and herbicides in the fall of 2019. And I kind of went back to what Julie found for us. Right. And I guess the report was from that there were no life to say it was not used at any of the schools. There was zero. There was some use in conservation areas and rare for poison ivy. But it was seemed like it was rare, but it was zero on school properties. Yeah, that was what the whole round up and they used it very sparingly in the parks where kids might get for poison ivy. Right. Yeah. So so I just thought I would. And then I also before it comes up that the H nine to six right now is has been referred to the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, and it's in the committee. It's that's what I found when I went and looked on online for the status, the status of the bill right now. So we're just going to wait for Lenore. We should move on, I think. Yeah. All right. Well, she's not here when she comes. We can we'll so we'll go on to the covid 19 update. OK. So this morning I woke up and I thought I would give you just sort of a mild update on, you know, some gradual case increases. But I do want to let you know what we saw starting today. We have an additional 76 cases come in today. So overnight we had one hundred and one cases. Obviously, this is a huge increase and we're very concerned about it. Since September 1st, we've had one hundred and sixty three cases. Right now we have one hundred and forty active cases. So the hundred and forty people are in isolation right now. So big increase, total cases three thousand seventy three. So up quite a bit from September 1st, two thousand nine hundred and ten. When you look at the incidence rate, I haven't calculated for these really large increases. I think it's going to be last two weeks ago, six point six. That's the number of new cases divided by a number of people. It's going to be published tonight and it'll be saying sixteen point eight. So that's a big jump in itself. But that does not take into account of this big number that just came in. So when I look at the. The age of these folks, it's all within the ages of. Not all hundred and forty twenty and twenty five. So it's fair to say these are mostly UMass or college undergrad students. So it's around age twenty one. So what's happening now is and I see Mindy's on. I don't know if she might have more information, but I know UMass Amherst. The leaders are talking about what their response is going to be to this. There are certain things that they'll be able to discuss. And Becker and I have been speaking. She's the public health nurse there and public health with Jeff Hiskock. I believe that's correct. And they're deciding with the team what their responses are going to be. So some of the things that they can decide upon. And this hasn't been discussed with me, but it's going to be things that they I mean, the options are what do you have? You have vaccine, you have testing, you know, and then you have these other mitigation strategies. So, you know, one thing that they may be considering is they're not conducting any asymptomatic testing now. So that's an option that they might consider some kind of like a routine cadence to their testing to get them through a surge or to start up again. So we'll see where they come back with that. You don't want to do pool testing if it's if there's so many cases. So we'll see what they come back with testing. You know, I just don't know what other strategies they might have. I don't know if they're going to look at isolation beds. I think they said they had 129 isolation beds. So what's going on with that if they'll be reviewing that? But, you know, they've been a good partner and, you know, they've been on top of this. They've been communicating with with me and the town. And, you know, everyone really I don't want to say anyone thought they're my we know we thought there would be some bumps. But, you know, every case is a person and we know that. And we we we know that these students, you know, they're they're vaccinated and we thank them for being vaccinated. It's a wonderful thing. But now we're seeing that they can contract and transmit disease. So so what are our next steps? So when I find out what's going on, I'll be sure to relay that to the board and what I can, you know, say to the public. But I think for the board tonight, we need to discuss what our steps are and what are we going to continue to do? I do want to, you know, say that the block party has been cancelled. And that was done, you know, a few days ago, Tuesday. And that was done, the bid did that they were heading that way. And then we spoke and it just sort of sealed the deal or maybe it was sealed already, but that's a really interactive kind of community event. So it's not just casual, you know, interactions. They really wanted to know people interacting and playing. So that was a hard decision. I think it's a smart one. Something else that I'm doing is just going to I'm going to be updating with the help of the inspectors, with Ed and Susan and the inspection department, giving some reminders to businesses, what best practices might be, just some tips. One thing, you know, that I'm hearing when I do contact tracing is people are like, man, I didn't know I had symptoms. It was just that I thought was just, you know, the usual sniffles or, you know, I thought it was just allergies. So let's get back to some basics. If you're sick, stay home. Everyone has to have a really low threshold of identifying symptoms.  You know, what's the progression of masks that we can have?  You know, procedure and a double hand, ninety-fives are not needed for normal interactions. But if they're used in circumstances, that will be that will be appropriate, whatever that may be. So that's one thing. And then I think so tonight, I think we need to speak about the board and what we can do to our mask amendment. And with this speak, increase. One thing I did do is I spoke to the contact tracers that you mass. And I said, you know, tell me what you're seeing. So they said there's a lot of activity in many places around, you know, town that's popping up in different venues. But what they're seeing is that there is a communal point of that is people have been to bars. So that's something that we just need to consider.  And I would say that we're not going back to covid, covid, you know, the sector specific mandates like what we did. But I think I'd like to talk about some different options. So are there any questions at this point? And one thing. So if you say they they're thinking of resuming asymptomatic testing. So are all of these cases actually symptomatic to some degree? I don't have that information. I can tell you that it seems like people are using this term to a degree called Pam, pre-symptomatic, asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, because it's just hard. If you say to someone, I've heard people said I've had no symptoms. And then you speak with them for a little while. But like, well, I didn't have symptoms. But the next day I did get a sore throat and a cough. And it's not that they're trying to skirt the issue. I just think, you know, a prompt gets them thinking about that. So I don't know what UMass is going to be doing. But I suspect they'll make some decisions. So it is UMass doing regular. They're not doing regular testing the way Amherst College is, which is they're testing every student twice a week, no matter what. That that's my understanding. If you're unvaccinated, you're tested twice a week. If you're vaccinated, they have it available and it's been taken up by quite a lot of people. I know and I thank, you know, the students that didn't feel well and got tested. But there's no, to my understanding, weekly asymptomatic testing. You know, last year when they had people on campus, I don't know how many students were on campus. You know, was it 5,000? I just don't know. Now they have 30,000. You know, can they can they do it? You know, it would be some ramping up for sure. And I don't know what they'll come up with. Yeah. So, Jen, what about. Bars having not having people standing at the bar, having masks and and having a six feet spacing? What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, thanks, Nancy. I think that's the direction we need to go. I think it's a good idea for a few reasons. And I would say if if we decide to do that, let's do it for a little while and then we'll review. So I think if we do that and again, this isn't covid spacing, it's not going to be like that. So if people, if our. Amendment is that masks can come off when eating or drinking when seated. I think that would be a way that we can really help people can help police. The numbers, not police, that's not the right number, but, you know, make sure that the numbers are right. You can see who's going in and who's coming out. Usually, if you're seated, you would be with your known group. And also there's less chance of random contact. I think of people are standing and drinking even the most well meaning person who's just doing it. You know, there's more moving around. And we saw some spread. So that would be my recommendation is to do to do that. I don't know how people feel about that. It's something that would need to be thought about. I know Ed Smith is here. I don't know if he wants to speak up, but, you know, it would be having people seated, you know, how are tables arranged?   People can't be packed in there. They'll be separated to a point. But it's not going to be code spacing. And I don't know if I answered your question. I'm sorry. But then at the bar, that's something to consider. What do we do? Because if you're seated at the bar, you can be back to back with somebody. So are people spread out at the bar between party and party?  I don't know if you want to. Ed Smith is one of our inspectors. I gave it to somebody else. What? Oh, Ed, are you there? And are you there? I think he's made it. Hello, I am the receipt. We'll have you after Ed. OK. And I don't I don't know if you have anything to add. But, you know, if this is the way we go, you know, I just don't know if you have anything to add to supporting, you know, our owners. With this change? Sure, Rob, more of the building commissioner and I had a chance to talk this afternoon about, you know, the effects and what would be the likely responses. You know, I think it's very natural that if you restrict people to be unmasked only when they're seated. That they'll ask to put in as many tables as is possible. And I went over some of those numbers with Jen. And I'm sorry, I jumped out and came back in. I'm not sure if you reviewed those numbers. You know, it could in one in one of the major establishments, it would have a diminishment of about 20 percent of the capacity from what it is now capacity right now is full capacity. And that 20 percent diminishment might be manipulated up a little bit, you know, as, you know, naturally the owners react and try to preserve as much of their income as they can, you know. And we certainly want to support them as businesses, but we also don't want to dig too deep a hole for ourselves anywhere in the community. So it would be natural for them to react. Some some businesses have more open floor space where they're more flexible about reacting to a change in the ordinance. A business, some of the smaller bars don't have the flexibility, say, the bigger institutions. You know, and I'll mention, like, say, the hangar and the spoke that have more floor space. There would be a little more nimble with any regulation that you propose. You know, I'll just I'll just add I've been talking to many of the several of the owners, they've been so good to to work with.  And I know they they realize this is, you know, sort of a hard time, but they've been really, really good to work with. So I just want to give them a lot of credit. Yeah. And as hard as it's been for them to maintain their staff, if the numbers are rising, I mean, the steps that you're considering are largely protecting their staff as well. So, you know, that I assume it's protected information about whether any of the restaurants and bars staff suffered recently. Yeah, but we need to protect them. Yeah. OK, if I let Macif. Sure. Let's see. Hi, Macif. Are you there? I think you're muted. I don't know if that's me. Let me see. OK. Yes, good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for letting me speak. And, you know, meeting meeting today and doing what you're doing to keep our community safe. I thought that you might like to hear from a business owner, you know, and Jen, by the way, thank you for working with us and trying to find something that works for everyone.  And so what I would ask is are measures being considered along with the health cost in terms of what do cases arise in cases mean now versus arise in cases a year ago? So, you know, if arise in cases a year ago meant 100 rise in cases meant 20 hospitalizations. What what do that 100 rise in cases mean now in terms of how many people are being hospitalized and how it is affecting people's health and yeah, and the community's health. Because from, you know, I'm no health expert. That's why you're here, Jen, is, you know, when people are vaccinated, you know, it seems that it's not as serious as it was when they were not vaccinated. And of course, there are still many, many people that are still unvaccinated and what responsibility we have as a community or as businesses in terms of shutting down our business or reducing our business or reducing our income to protect those that are choosing not to be vaccinated at this time. And of course, I know there's there's others that are vaccinated and, you know, immunocompromised and their health, of course, should also be considered. So, you know, that is that is what I ask. I will plainly say that, you know, if seated mask requirement or capacity requirements, if these things are going into place that it is, yes, bars, places that that, you know, depend on a certain number of people coming in, we will be the ones that will primarily be affected. I would ask that, you know, that the board works somewhat with the town because we still have to pay 100 percent of our liquor license fees. And although other fees that we have to pay to stay in business along with taxes and rent and all that, that there may be some consideration there along with decisions that will reduce our income. That's a good question. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. I'm concerned about the 12 and under population that can't be vaccinated yet and what effect it might have on them if it if it starts rising in the community. Is it OK to let Peter in? Yes. Hi, everybody. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Hi. Yeah. My name is Peter and I'm a Amherst resident. I also work at UMass. Just prefers to my first name for the public meeting, but I can I can email one of I can email one of you if you want to get my last name down for the meeting later. OK, thank you. Yeah, I know Jennifer knows who I am, too. We've been in contact. OK, great. Thank you, Jennifer. So first of all, yeah, I want to say I think, yeah, there's been a lot of good things in terms of what the town has done for the mask mandate, which is which is great. You know, the compliance seems pretty good with that.  Sorry, so I'll try to order my thoughts. I just had a few recommendations for what I think we can do as the town to, you know, to curb this. You know, first of all, yeah, I mean, I do think it's a good idea to have more regulations at the bars, but in, you know, because I because I understand that's where a lot of like densely packed events take place at the same time, though, it's sort of, you know, echoing the sentiment that the that I think his name was received, who was just speaking, sort of echoing that sentiment, though, I certainly wouldn't want there to be a measure where where these are the only people who are sort of bearing the brunt of, you know, the measures, right? And I think that with that being said, I think that what we can do with the Board of Health can do and I know it's not their decision ultimately, but is to come to an agreement and to really pressure the university to pressure UMass, you know, an institution, which, of course, has a lot more resources than, you know, than small local businesses, right? Millions more dollars, right? To really pressure them to ramp up their asymptomatic testing, right, because that covers a lot of people and they do have the resources to do that. And, you know, that way, if they're doing that, that's that's if they're doing that, if they're doing that more consistently, that's going to prevent these situations where then you have local businesses that have to take certain measures. And, you know, I understand that that, you know, some of them that we may have to take those measures temporarily, but really, you know, pressuring pressuring UMass to do more asymptomatic testing, I think is going to go a long way because it deals with that second problem, too, if that makes sense, right? Because, you know, the problem is they're just not testing enough people and that's a huge population. So I think that's the one thing I think that should be done and, you know, in addition to some of some of the regulations and not not being too punitive, but some regulations about like seeding, right? But but I definitely don't think that should be the thing the only thing that should be done by itself. And then another another aspect of concern is that is outdoor events. And again, this is sort of more on UMass because they're they're the ones who are going to hold the most events that are going to be very large packed events, right? I think like the average attendance of football games are like 10,000 people or I don't know what it is. Like I was looking at some number from 2015, you know, I know it's not I know it's not University of Michigan or something, but it's still a lot of people that and really and a really densely packed area, right? So, you know, what the town could do is have an outdoor mask mandate that covers large events. And I don't know if that would would regulate UMass, but at the very least, it would send an example for them and to say, hey, you know, you should really be doing this, too. We're taking the measures. We're taking the measures. We're trying to be careful, do your part as well. So I'd say those are like the three major things, if that's clear enough and I'm happy to repeat any of them, too. But those are my three recommendations as a town resident of how we can get a hold of this. And I do understand that Jennifer has been in touch and working with with, you know, with UMass as well. And that's that's fantastic. And I just think it would it would send, you know, I think it would be a strong message of the Board of Health, you know, I had a couple of agreements on some of these issues and then, you know, communicated this to the university, basically, again, saying, you know, you need to be doing your part. We shouldn't be bearing bearing the brunt of this alone. Yeah, you know, thank you, Peter. I know I will sort of just echo what I said is I agree with you. It's a real community response. We're really working with UMass and they're they're just figuring out what they can do. And they they're very aware they have a big football game coming up and what measures are they going to take? We, you know, a few years weeks back, we, you know, asked for masking outdoors for the Rotary Club Fair and we didn't have any transmission there. You know, it's just not documented outside.  Probably I don't know about Barnstable County. I just don't have that information. You know, it was going to be something we were going to talk about with the big block party. But now that points move. So anyhow, I just want to say we we are doing sort of an approach together to look at everything. So thank you. Anyone else? Does he have his hand back up? I think that's it. Rosseef, do you want to talk again? Should we? Did I? Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to have my hand back up. But I'm OK. OK. That's fine. If anyone has questions, I'm here. I mean, I was wondering, I'm sorry, if I missed this part of the meeting, I jumped at 15 minutes late. What is the incidence or positivity rate for those under 12? Under 12. We've had a few cases. I don't I don't know the answer, Peter. We've had just a few cases, you know, but but we've had four year olds, you know, sick. The school has a dashboard. There's been seven cases. I believe in the school system, if I'm reading their dashboard correctly. So I'm sorry, I don't have that number. Got it. Thank you. And, you know, I know that board is a decision or to make either this week or next week, I would, you know, ask you to consider. That before putting on capacity restrictions or other restrictions that, you know, alternative alternative choices may be considered, whether it's, you know, allowing maybe if it's students and crowded situations that people are concerned about, maybe whether it's checking vaccination records or, you know, making sure that people who are in crowded spaces have are vaccinated. You know, it's around here. I know some other business owners in other towns about a bad reaction to that sort of thing. But if I have to choose between shutting down a part of my business losing income or checking people's vaccination records for a certain part of it, I would I would definitely choose the latter. But just just something something to consider. Thank you. Thank you again for listening to me today. Yeah, thanks for seeing. That's something we have discussed sort of, you know, and maybe we'll we'll focus on that at some. Peter, do you have your hand up again? We should move on because, you know, people should have three minutes to speak really. And so I think we need to move on. We're going to be here a long time. OK. So what do we think adding. An amendment. Is it something we should vote on or is it something that I would do? But what do does the board want to do if we add masks, persons that exception to mask the persons at a restaurant bar venue when seated while eating or drinking? So at our last meeting, Jen, you you clearly said this was going to be data driven and we have data going up. Yeah. Yeah, with some reports that from the contact tracers that this is part of the activities that they're hearing about. Yeah, I'm sure some of its parties, too. So right. And my guess is things won't move to parties if it gets to be not as much fun at the bars, too. But we don't want to do that. Push people into cars, you know, and drive. But I know we actually started with that as our recommendation last month and then backed away from it a little bit. Maybe it is time to just do this much and see if that makes any changes. Is it masks or is it checking vaccination status? Because I know in New York City to enter restaurant or bar, you have to have to be vaccinated. That isn't part of our tool kit right now. To me, Jen, the great many of the current increase is among vaccinated people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the assumption is that, you know, a huge majority of the people in the age group that we're talking about have had to be vaccinated by. They're contracting and transmitting. We do have a question or a comment. Is that OK if I let them in? Yeah, yes. Three minutes. We end up, yes. OK, thanks for joining us. Can you tell us your name in three minutes? It's Gastronomy. Gastronomy. Hello, your hand is up and you're permitted to talk. Muted. Oh, unmuted. Asked to unmute. I don't. Yeah, unmuted. It's unmuted. Yeah. Gastronomy, can you hear us? I guess he or she does not want to speak. OK, they disappeared. OK. OK. So, Jen, what action would you like to take? Well, this is this is a big step and I I'd like to, you know, hear what the board has to say if this is the way we want to go. I don't know if this is something that you can continue to say. You support this and I can. And word it or would you like to help word or vote? What is the best best next step? Good. What is your response? Steve, what is your response to Ed Smith's comment that that rule, if it's implemented to the max in many places, will not greatly reduce the density of people? Yeah, yeah. So I think what I really like about this is some of the things that, you know, I had mentioned, I really think people are seated.  So I think it's staying within your party. And like I said, sort of less random contact with people. I don't want to make it so sparse like we had said, I don't want it going back to the standards. But I think this is a really good way to control the number of people. I like to see the volume of the music turned down to. But that's something else. Yeah, because people have to speak and reject louder. Yeah, which means more things come out of your mouth. Yeah, Tim, Maureen. I would support going in this direction and monitoring things. Like I said, I don't know that this will have a huge effect. And I hope it won't too seriously impact the owners. But I think it's probably something we should do. I also wondered about and I can't remember what the public schools or other sporting kinds of activities about. I know they're outside, but where people are kind of packed together like and shouting. Yeah. Like stands or like the sidelines of a game or something on that order. And I don't know if you've had any reports of any kind of transmission in that kind of setting, but it makes you think about it. It does, Maureen, I'm sorry, were you done? I don't want to. Yeah, I'm done. And this is something that Northampton has is they have a mask order for outdoor spaces and such activities, like you said, where people are sort of in a denser situation and can't keep that social or that six feet physical distancing. But like benches, like you said, of a dugout or something, we have not seen any transmission here. They may have very different patterns there. We had one person who was positive on a team. It was outdoors and just no transmission. So feel very comfortable with that now.  I think. We should wait for what you mess is going to come up with in terms of a response. Looks like it's at the age group of 21. And it has to be a coordinated coordinated effort. Even if he puts efforts at the downtown level, we need to know what is the. You mess policy related to this increased cases. So, of course, you know, I think I'm I'm I'm also concerned with the business impacts of the downtown having large losses in the past several months. The new students coming in and, you know, of course, we could. Provide guidance on some sort of a densities not, you know, in terms of the close lines, you know, if the lines to some establishments are people are standing very close, you know, providing that type of guidance is along with if you're standing in a line, have a mask or something. But I'm thinking the any in any effort has to be coordinated with what you mess. Comes up with as a policy change. You mess has an indoor mask policy. Yeah. So we're talking about an indoor mask policy. Peter has his hand up again.  Can we can I let him in? Did you let him in? I miss Tom. Oh, yeah. Are you with Tom? Hello. Can you hear me? Yeah. Hi, Tom. Hey, how is everyone? Thanks for doing this. Sorry, that was me as gastronomy. But for some reason it wouldn't let me sign in. So I had to resign in. So I'll make it real quick. I've definitely got some concerns as we all do with the rise of numbers, especially since we had zero cases and was it June and July? And then when Lisa signed August 3rd, we jumped to three. And by your first meeting on the 11th, we were at 18 cases. So I definitely have concerns where residents and business owners are going to bear the brunt of us bringing back the twenty eight thousand plus kids and people from the university. So I definitely think that before we start to really make decisions that are going to affect people's financial well-being and the ability to make a livelihood and support their families, we really need to put some pressure on the university. You know, it is this is a problem with the students. You guys have already said that the common age is twenty one plus and mostly students, right? So that being said, like I run a blue collar establishment and I know Rossi runs a restaurant. And so if these go into into place and we're left to have these mandates and it affects everyone across the board, then I think that we really need to start looking at, you know, how how are we going to how are we going to go forward? You know, we're looking at almost two years with mandates.  And as well, the house parties that were adjacent caused massive damage to me while no one could do anything to curtail it. Not the property owner. The police are not in place to be masked police. They're not doing that. They're called for noise complaints, disorderly violence. It's not they're not the code police. So how do we as a community say, well, you got a house party that has 300 kids, but if no one's calling on them and there's no complaint, all we can do is break it up. If we if you don't let them in the bars, they're just going to they've got to congregate somewhere else. They're kids. That's what they'll do. I mean, so how do we address that problem?  It was house parties because they had no bar to go to. So I mean, I just I think we really need to address the student body in a sense where it's like if that's where the majority of the cases are popping up, then that's what we should focus on. Before we start handing down mandates for restaurants, that means I don't have any students in my restaurant right now. I'm sitting in my office. There's not one student in here. But if you were to make a decision that changed that, then it would be taking people out of my seats and I've already suffered greatly, you know, I'm for community first. Don't get me wrong.  But, you know, it's not it's not the mainstay of our diet. We're here year round. The students essentially here five months and of the five months, we might see three, three and a half months of business out of between the breaks and everything else. So I would just ask that you please consider year round businesses that are affected by this and the fact that with the influx of the students returning, that's when our spike happened. That's all. Thank you. I have a question for you, Thomas. How does wearing a mask, unless you're seated, affect your business? It affects because there's a proportion of people that are resistant to that.  Those are going to affect people's businesses, you know? I mean, I just I don't think that any time in history, if we look back where you had to show papers to do something, it was a productive move or looked upon as so. So I know that things are changing constantly and that I might just be stuck in my mindset. But I think that those are drastic measures, especially since, you know, I came in late because I was driving and I heard that the average age was twenty one to twenty five. Yes. And I think when we spoke before, Jen, I was saying, I wish that the UMass and CVS and local testing would add some criteria to their tests so that you can find out if it was asymptomatic, travel, actually ill, hopefully not hospitalized student or non-student and vaccinated or non-vaxed so that we could actually gather the information and make informed decisions on what's actually going on. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you. What steps would you like to take, board? I'd like to just understand. So if it is risen so drastically just within the next last few days, what are the prospects of a really explosive growth that then goes into the community and you're going to affect public schools, everything else? I mean, it seems like the situation is pretty unstable right now. So, in other words, if we just say, oh, well, let's wait till the UMass does something, we could have a situation that's really out of control. We have a unique population. It's not the fault of any restaurateur or our owner, but the population here is what it is. And it's different from just about, really, from any other municipality in the Commonwealth. And so that is something we live with and it's benefits us in many ways. But if it's going to be the the source of a truly catastrophic outbreak, it seems like we should be trying to do everything we can to prevent it right from the beginning before it gets out of control. Or, Jen, is that an unrealistic scenario? No, this is what that what keeps me up at night, you know, thinking about this. I don't want any students, you know, anyone in our town. But I think about, you know, how it might spread out. I don't want to say transmit because that's like a mechanism. The spread and if it, you know, I can see I see the contact tracing. There's one or two things that we connect that have been connected, I believe. And we just this is the time now to do it, I believe.  So every one person infected one point three. So there's still growth. So now, you know, that leaked CDC documents of the Delta, the are not. It's like seven to eight.  But I can't say if that's true or not. So that's just anecdotal. And there's another variant. Leaking away. The MMO or M.U.1. Mew. The Mew. Why? No, I don't know. I mean, I think I said what I thought earlier. So I feel like we probably should do something now. I realize how hard this is. It's probably a minor effect. But is there any way that the town can hold off on the license fees and things like that? Because that is that's not fair that people have to pay a full license fee when they can't operate the business completely. And it probably won't make a big difference, but it is something. Yeah, I wrote that. Write that down. I think Rossi, that made it was a good point he made. But it's anything that we can do to help. I can look into that. That's I wrote that down. So I also want to mention. It's the end of second week of classes semester started. I mean, it's it's not coincidental. It's a huge student body coming in, you know, population coming in. And I'm just I'm just the way I was mentioning some sort of a coordination with UMass says, of course, we can go ahead and add some regulations here. But the primary issue is also, you know, has to be dealt with, you know, student bodies. You know, so that's why I was saying it has to be coordinated some way. There are two people with raised hands. We have time to continue or yep. So there's Chad, Chad and Mindy. And then we'll have to keep going after this. OK. OK. All right. So let's go with Chad and then we'll get Mindy in. All right. So Chad, I think you should be able to speak. And then that will be it. Chad, are you there? It's muted. It's muted here. Let's see. Is he unmuted now? Can you hear me? OK, Chad. Yes. This is Cara Chad's wife. Hi, I'm just on his phone in here. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. What would you tell us your name just for the minutes? But your name? Cara Feebrey. I'm Chad's wife of the spoke. Hi. Hi. So I've just been listening in. I'm actually on shift right now. And my question to you guys is I know it's been as Tommy was saying, it's been a very, very long, almost two years for us as business owners in Amherst as obviously everybody is feeling it right now. But my question with these students just coming back is I feel the same way as Tommy feels. We there needs to be something done about the House parties. The, you know, the congregations. I know the tailgate was just closed tomorrow. You know, these kind of things, I feel like us local businesses are being punished for things students are doing that nobody can really keep an eye on. And it really affects us. I mean, we've sat without an income for a year and a half with a family to feed and bills to pay. And I feel like there has to be some other result to shutting us down and making all these rules that are undesirable for students to come out. The more they come to establishments that are regulated is more that they are pulled away from unregulated parties. And we all know that there's, I mean, it's all over social media. There's 300 plus people's students congregating and partying. And nothing's being done about it. But yet local businesses are being punished. There has to be some sort of hobby medium here. Hello. OK. I can't hear you. I can't tell if anybody can hear me. Chad, we can hear you. Yes, we can hear you. Sorry, I'm going to see I'm so on phone. I'm used to Apple and I have no idea how to work this thing right now. Are you finished? And then we'll. So I guess my question is, is, you know, if if things are going to go into effect, who's going to stop these house parties? Who's going to stop the regulation of other things? And why aren't the people the town believes to be the spreaders of this being punished? But yet the businesses are. Because I've honestly sat quiet for a very long time, but it's now quite literally affecting the way I raise my children. We're there has to be a happy medium. And I'm not saying that the virus isn't real, the virus isn't spreading. And we should just have a free for all. That's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that there has to be some sort of happy medium here. You can't punish one and let the other room free. I guess that's my input on it. I mean, for what it's worth at all, but it's there seems to be a lot of people that are, you know, we want to see our businesses do well and we want to see Amherst be a, you know, an attraction for people. Well, businesses are literally dropping one by one that are never going to reopen in this town. And pretty soon there's going to be no attraction whatsoever if we don't do something. And again, I'm not saying to let a free for all out happen. I'm saying that there has to be we've got to meet in the middle here. There has to be something that we can do to still all be successful and still squash it.  And they're all vaccinated, yet we're seeming to have these crazy outbreaks. So is it the students? Is it not what what is going on? Like Tommy was saying that there has to can we figure out some trace contact? Are they asymptomatic? Are they what age group are they? You know, if they're all proven to be of an older age group and not student population, maybe we require, you know, some sort of documentation. I'm not sure. But I guess I'm here not for answers right now. I'm just here to put my two sons in. And it's that it's it's quite literally affecting every business in town.  I mean, how many other businesses have to close their doors for the town to see that there needs to be something else done? And it's not the answer isn't making businesses shut down. There's got to be something within the student population that has to happen. But. Thank you. Thank you. It's very difficult. It is very difficult. And unfortunately, the people making decisions aren't sitting in the shoes of all these people who are reaping the consequences of it. And that goes with everybody getting COVID, too. There's the people, you know, I'm going to assume that we all are assuming that the student population is the one that's making this outbreak right now happen, which maybe is a good assumption. But if we can put our finger on it, if we can find a way to do that, then maybe we can have some better ideas in place to move forward with regulations. But just just, you know, faulting businesses that are open in a student community isn't I feel is not the right way to go. We're the ones being punished for other people's behaviors that we can't control. So maybe as a town and as a community, we come together and try to find a way to control that. Thank you. I mean, we're going to continue following the policies that the town has in place right now. That's what we have to do. Until I'm told otherwise, but I actually am on shift right now. So I'm going to go back on because I can't find help right now. So I'm working doubles every single day just to try to keep my doors open. So you guys have a good day. That's about all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. OK, Monday. Let's see. All right, I think I think we have. OK, yes. Yeah, there you are. OK, Mindi. Hi, everybody. So first of all, I just want to thank you. That's my main comment for the evening, is I want to thank you for your incredible public service and hard work and thoughtfulness to the public board members and to Jen for stepping into this role during this intense time. So thank you so much. I want to let you know that Senator Comerford and I at an earlier meeting today, we've already discussed sort of exploring additional state resources and capacity to increase community testing in Amherst. If you're aware, but the, you know, the state shrunk their network of community test sites throughout the Commonwealth. I think Jen knows this. And Hampshire County actually is a testing desert, even though Amherst, because we have UMass community testing, isn't. But we're going to explore seeing if we can increase the capacity for community testing at UMass Amherst right now so that we at least can make sure that the community has access to it. We're also going to explore some of the issues that have been raised about testing in the university campus, which I think is going to be more complicated, but we'll advocate and explore that. I did feel the need and I hope this is OK. This is just my background as a health educator really makes me want to say that when we're thinking about regulations around reducing community spread, we have to think about both the transmission piece and what happens as a result of transmission. So like the mask prevents infection. It prevents the virus from going from one person to another. But when the virus is able to get through the mask, the vaccine is taking care of what your body, how your body experiences that infection, do you know what I'm saying? So the two act complementary, but differently. So if we're looking to reduce spread with a highly vaccinated population, which we have, at least on the campus, I'm not sure about in the community, how highly vaccinated we are, but I think we're pretty vaccinated. I would encourage you to think about masks because that's what's going to try masks that are properly worn, obviously, that's going to try to that will reduce the virus's transmission from one person to another. And if we're thinking we're at the beginning or in the middle of an outbreak, that's definitely one piece of the puzzle.  You know, they're saying we don't want to be closed down, but they're not saying we don't want masks. And I think that's incredible. And I'll be honest with you, just I think that's very big minded to be able to say, we'll take the regulations that will allow our workplace to be safer. Just don't close this down. And I I so appreciate that that they said that. But I do think that it's important to remember that the two act differently. And the reason why I bring that up is because when we were talking about masks in schools and the governor was refusing to make a statewide mandate on masks and he was saying, well, it's all about the vaccine. It wasn't all about the vaccine because the vaccine doesn't necessarily prevent people from from the virus from going from person to person. The mask is going to help us do that. And the two really putting my hands together. You can't see me, but they really sort of work together. So I really but my main reason for kind of budding in on this meeting, because I obviously have nothing to say about it. It's your decision is to thank you for for volunteering to be in this role and to look after the health of our community and to be very fair minded about it and to be able to think about the college campus population is part of our community. And it is part of what makes our community special. And it is part of what makes our businesses succeed. But we also have families and communities and lots of people under the age of 12 who are not able to be vaccinated. So the outbreaks, I agree with you, Nancy, they sort of raise a red they sort of make us more concerned for the people who are more vulnerable. And as I said, it's the layering. It's the masks. It's a little bit less density. Right. It's vaccine. It's it's everything that we do together. Right. It's everything we do together. I think that's a really good way of looking at it. And it can also be like, you know, so do we ask people to wear masks more in indoor spaces? You know, do we ask do we ask people to wear them in outdoor spaces? And I guess I also want to make sure that you know that I'm here to be not just a resource to the board and to Jen, I hope you know that also, Jen, but also if you think you need more resources to do something from the state, please do not hesitate to ask or to demand. And I will take that and work with Senator Cumberland for to advocate for those resources. So even if you're thinking of something out of the box, which I don't think there is much out of the box at this point, but it needs more additional resources, you should feel free to say we wish we could do X, Y or Z, but we just don't have the resources to the state help. But that's what I mean. We're going to look to try to increase at least the community testing piece so that our community can always access testing. And we'll also explore conversations with UMass. I'm also happy to answer any questions, but I hope you don't mind me inserting my little health education piece in there. Thank you, Mindy. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you so much for your work. Okay, here we are. We've got to do something. So, Jen, repeat your question of where you want the guidance. So I'd like to hear from the board as I have, but just if we're going to go forward with the clause of putting in that people must be seated while eating and drinking if a mask is going to come off. So I think I, do I understand where everyone sits with that? Is it something that we want to word together? Is it something that I can word? Those are my two questions, I guess. Are we moving forward with this? And if we are, do you want me to write it? You give me the okay. I'm comfortable with masks unless you're seated and I'm comfortable with your wording it. Steve? I agree. Yeah. Okay. I agree too. Tim? Yeah. I am going to have some, one question for you. We have to have, we should have a motion though, which we have a record about. We have a motion and we have to vote on it. So who would like to make a motion? Maureen, do you want to make a motion? I'll make a motion that we will amend our mask, indoor mask requirement to include masks need to be on unless seated while eating or drinking and an establishment. I don't know if I got that right, but you know what I mean. I know you got it right. Yes. Need someone to second it? I'll second it. Okay. Maureen. I, Now wait, let me make sure, because this is pretty important. I want to make sure we're saying the right thing here. So now we're also saying that Jen is going to put the wording in, right? Yeah. So we're saying mask will be required. Indoors, except while eating and drinking and while seated at a restaurant or bar, I don't know. Yeah. The way it's worded is exceptions, like number four exceptions. This order shall not apply to persons at a restaurant, bar or venue, when seated while eating or drinking. That's an exception to the requirement. Yes. Of the indoor mask requirement. That's how we wrote it initially last time, last meeting. Yes. And so now? We are, then it got amended after that. Jen, we may send us an updated copy that took that exception out and we're putting that exception back in. We're putting it back in. Say it one more time, please. Then what's the actual motion? Just let me make sure, because, you know, what's the motion? Oh. So the motion is that our indoor mask mandate will include an exception to allow people to remove the mask while eating or drinking, while seated in a bar or restaurant or a step. Or venue. Or venue. Or venue. Because that might include a wedding or... Right, right. And Jennifer will authorize Jennifer to put that into writing. Okay, so the exception is that patrons can remove a mask. Patrons in a restaurant or bar. Or venue. That means whatever venue is okay. Okay, the exception is they can remove the mask while seated and eating or drinking. Okay. Second. I'll second it. Do you have something to say, Jen, before we go? There's one more person with a question or are we moving on since we've... I think we've got to just do this. I mean, I think we've heard... Okay. All right, so I'll write that up for tomorrow. Do that in the morning. Wait a minute, we have to vote. We have to vote. All in favor. Tim? Aye. Steve? Aye. Maureen? Aye. Nancy? Aye. Thank you. Okay. Whoa, we're almost at seven o'clock and we need so much more to do. We need to go back is... Lenora is here. Lenora here. Let's see, where is Lenora? Don't... Lenora's down at the bottom. Lenora, are you... There it is. Well, before we start the comments, what exactly are we talking about here? And then we'll have a short comment. So we're going back up to the House Bill 926, an act relative to improving pesticide protection for Massachusetts school children. And Lenora, we have the letter from Lenora. We have the policy mandate that's the status that's referred to that joint committee. We have our 2,000 toxic chemical and we have the comment from Michael Morse that they adhere to the regulations that are in existence now. So should we have Lenora speak? And the question is whether we would support this... Support. Like, let the state like our representatives know that we support this measure. So, Lenora, whoops, there she is. Ah, here we go. Lenora. Okay, I'm allowed to talk. Yes, are you? Okay, yes. Hi, guys. Hi. I want to echo what Mindy said, thanking you for your good work. I'm always impressed when I sit in on a meeting, always. And I'm not that easily impressed. So, I'm not sure who got to read what or if you have questions or, you know, how to do this in the most efficient, quick way.  I didn't expect you to read it. I just want you to have it in hand because we have been speaking to boards of health and school committees. And when questions come up, I'm just gathering responses so that we can be ready if you have the same questions. So I looked at the bill or the act. And I support it. I don't know, did other people read it? Yes. Questions, comments, thoughts? I mean, it seems like a very good idea. You know, if the schools brought up anything, if they say, oh, this is going to detract from people's education because now we're going to have to spend a fortune on getting rid of weeds, then we might be concerned. But they're not saying that. They're able to deal with the situation now, which is not all that different. So it does seem like this is a good idea to support. And can I just speak to that very briefly, Stephen, is that Amherst is sort of a no-brainer because we're kind of already doing it already. And our support of this is really to help the rest of the communities in the Commonwealth so that that understanding of the risk that we're taking is, we're basically, it's a moment of education and increased public awareness and increased awareness for legislators to kind of get the momentum going on this. It doesn't really change what we do in Amherst that much. So it's more that our endorsement is amplifying the voice that's so needed of how very dangerous and unnecessary it is to do this. And it's really easy to address communities that have concerns like the increased cost or if your fields don't look pristine, that there's very easy answers for all that. This is kind of a no-brainer. And to be honest, it's the legislation with the least amount of teeth for this topic. I would love to see a much stricter ban, but it's easier for people to wrap their heads around our kids' health since they're the most vulnerable. So this is kind of the poster child, so to speak, for changing the way that we manage land with pesticides and go to more natural alternatives. Mindy has her hand raised. Mindy, do you want to speak to this? I didn't know it was still raised, but I can tell you I'm the vice chair of this joint committee. I believe that there's going to be a hearing scheduled probably either this month or next month that's going to have a whole host of pesticide-related bills. And that's when this will be heard. And if you take a position on this, you should definitely, I mean, I can provide you if it hasn't already been provided to you with information on where to send your support for the bill. And you should not only send it to the committee, but you should send it to myself and Senator Comerford so that we're aware of your interest in it. I'll find out through the committee since I'm vice chair. But sending us a copy of the email is a good way to make sure that we're on notice for it. OK. So if you send us that, that would be helpful. So Eleanor, you're asking us to write a letter of support for the bill. By any chance, does your committee have a draft letter? Yeah, the link, the initial, I sent two emails. The initial email has a link, and it's really easy. I think you actually just have to add, you don't have to write anything. I have to look it up again because I'm working on a lot of different initiatives. I think you really just add your organization, your committee. So I don't even think you have to write anything. So it says organizations can endorse by clicking here? Yeah, that's it. OK. That's it. It's really simple. And if it isn't, let me know. I think it's an online submission. Yes. OK. So do we want to vote on that? Someone want to make a motion? I'll move with the Board of Health, support House Bill 926 on use of pesticides near schools. Second. I second it. OK. OK. Any more discussion? OK. All in favor? Maureen? Aye. Tim? Aye. Steve? Aye. Nancy? Aye. OK. Thank you, guys. Always a pleasure working with people who really care about public health and really do it right. Oh, OK. And Mindy, if you can hear me, I love you. Thank you very much. Yeah. I have a question. Do I just put, do the link and say Nancy Gilbert as the Board of Health for the Board of Health? Yeah. OK. And then send it to Mindy and Joe. And Joe, right. OK. I will do that. Do that this evening. Then I had another question for the Board that within the next year, should we take and look at and review the toxic chemical regulation for town that was enacted 20 years ago? You thought already, I would say, wait. It probably makes sense to do that. It was written in a very general way to kind of use the least harmful options so that didn't lock anything in. But I don't know if there is more to say about that. OK, I can I can take the lead on that, but I cannot do it by October. I have too much going on and a wedding to go to and and stuff like that. But I could do it for November or December, unless anyone else wants to take the lead. Yeah, I have a lot in the next. I could do it also, but probably slowly. OK, so let's let's just put it on October meeting. And then we can decide how we're going to move forward to it, but we'll take action. I'll try to take a little look around. Yeah, I won't. I will not be able to take a look around by October. I know that, so this might be my window after. OK, it's worse. OK, so. But within the year, we'll have some action on that. OK, thank you. And now where's my here we go. OK. So that. Brings us back down to the COVID update. Any update on prior grants, other COVID topics for you, Jen? I'll just say that the update on the prior grants just let folks know there were some grants that I believe people were waiting for results. And just I want people to know that they weren't actually submitted and properly. So those grants are not going forward. The public health excellence and the CTC. There was a grant and some grant monies from the state. So I just want to update people on that. And then on the agenda, number two, the water update. There's all I can report is that this two samples of our water here in town tested negative for PFAS. I don't know if that's how you say it, but the forever chemical. Yeah, so the polyfluoro alkaline substances. So that's a plus, you know, no PFAS in our waters. That's it. OK. And the waste haulers, zero waste committee is going to come up in October. I believe I forwarded Darcy Dumont's email to everybody. But what I wanted to also tell you, and I will forward it to you, but I didn't want to forward it to you in advance. They're going to she's going to have a of the recycling committee, the zero waste hauler committee is going to do a presentation. But I thought I found on on online. I don't have the date, but Veronica Blanchard from the Mass Department of Public Health Municipal Assistance Coordinator did a presentation on zero waste options for the town of Amherst. And I thought I would send that to you and Mimi Kaplan from our own Waste Reduction Enforcement Coordinator from the DPW had a very short and it's not dated presentation on the current situation and future scenarios of recycling in Amherst. And I just wanted to let you know, I will forward it to you. I didn't want to send it to you before I told you, so you didn't get overwhelmed with all of this stuff. And that will be on our October meeting. Just one quick question. I thought in Darcy's email, it referred to some attachments that she had with a study by the Zero Waste Committee and a study by Smith's students, and I didn't see those. Maybe I missed something, but that that will come out before the next. OK, I didn't realize I read things in the wrong order and I didn't realize we didn't. Yes, because the presentation isn't going to be till October, right? Yeah, that and then topics not anticipated by the chair. We got an email today from Michael Morris. And did you all read that about the Regional School Committee unanimously agreed to inquire about whether the board is or the and the Health Department are considering adding COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccines required for students to attend school. And that is consistent with the school policy. And I he forwarded that Puerto Rico did it. And I went in the actual legislation done, the regulation done in Puerto Rico. I could only find it in Spanish. I could not find an English translation of it. The LA Unified School District Committee is meeting today to vote on it. And I found that another on my notes now a another school district. Oh, it is the Culver City Unified School District in California. It's in L.A. County passed the the regulation so that by Friday, November 19th, 2021, all students who are eligible 12 and over have to be immunized. And all of them have the two caveats that if it's medically contraindicated and for documented religious reasons. So I know we're not prepared to act on it today. But we really why are we not prepared to act on it? All right. Or we could act on it today. Well, I think there's a couple of questions. One is does include staff? Another is what's the date it would go into effect? And the third is, do we have to wait for full authorization instead of emergency authorization? Well, it has full authorization. He's mean. No, not for kids. Sixteen and up. Yeah. Sixteen and up. Well, I did a lot of reading on this today. I can't answer those questions. Jen, I don't know. And Michael Morris is here. So we could ask him to talk about it. I can tell you just. Oh, yeah, what I my my perspective, I think it should be included childhood vaccine. It's not like happy. It can both affect the person and transmit. So it's one of these really important vaccines. I think it should also go forward to include any third dose or booster. But I don't know if they're asking for that. I like the opt out standards that the school has in place now. And I think we should wait for it to be approved by the FDA. But that's just those are my beliefs. In your full approval, full approval, not my emergency. That could take a long time. They were saying a few months, right? You know, kids for kids, a few months. OK, Michael Morris on. I don't know if he wants to speak to us. Michael, do you want to speak? You might be multitasking. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, to mandate it, that's what I was thinking.  Mindy has her hand raised. Oh, sorry, that's a mistake. All right. Do you want to comment? My gratitude for your thoughtful deliberation and also my gratitude to the schools because I think that Mike has done an incredible job as a superintendent. Kind of seeing what the public health needs are, wanting to keep his students, his staff safe and trying to navigate sometimes a state government that's not been very cooperative with school districts, much to my displeasure. So thank you. I thank you. Mike has a hand raised. Mike, what is OK? Mike, is he unmuted? He should be able to speak. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. OK, yeah. The only things just in terms of the questions are on my phone. So I don't know how the connection will be that the FDA has fully approved the vaccine for students ages 16. Can you still hear me? Yes. Yes. It is 16 and up. I mean, I think the expectation for 12 plus that I've served just in the press, I don't have inside or baseball, right? They don't share that with me is probably a couple of weeks away or a month away for the 12th. Oh, Mike, you lost. You lost, too. OK. Here you are. OK. I can try to get on by a computer now that I just got. You're back. Oh, OK. So so what I was saying is 16 plus has the full FDA approval that does affect, you know, implement or we do have students who are 16 plus in our school system, the 12 to 15 from what's been publicly reported in the press, not because I know any more than anyone else. People anticipate within a month that the 12 plus were received full approval. In terms of staff, we did by we, it's really the school committee and I, most of the school committee did talk about a vaccine mandate for staff and they plan to vote on a policy around staff vaccine mandate two weeks from tonight, actually. So I know that they're doing some wordsmithing, but I think there was a broad support last night from the school committee on the staff end that doesn't require the Board of Health piece, because that's an employment piece not around students which would involve the Board of Health vote for us to proceed. I think I got I think those are the questions that I heard. But if I missed any, please let me know. What would it be reasonable in a date for it to go into effect, the mandate? For the staff end, I know originally they were thinking the conversation last night, I'll just put it that way, talked, you know, the original drafts at October 31st, I think now that they're not voting for two weeks, I think it's more likely to be sometime in November. The examples I've seen like Los Angeles, I think has their deadline for the second shot in mid-December. Puerto Rico's a little, they were a little more aggressive. I did look at that Spanish one. I'm fortunate to have lots of people around me. I think those are okay in Spanish are not great, but there are others who could help me with that. But there's one into effect. I mean, it was in July, they were way ahead of the curve on this particular item. And so, you know, that's what we've seen so far. You know, a lot of the staff ones that have gotten passed is a number of districts in the last two weeks in Massachusetts that have passed staff mandates and sort of that late October to mid-November is what we're seeing at least Los Angeles, which is voting tonight. I know that what's on their docket to vote on, I think that is December 19th or December 15th, and it's something in that vicinity for full vaccination for students. So that's what's out there. Certainly I've been, you know, for better or worse, right? I've been very emphatic for quite some time now about being an advocate for vaccines. Certainly we trust your judgment on the student part. I'm not trying to overstep my boundaries, but you know, I think that's why it came up at school committee is everyone's realizing the benefits. As Miss Brown said, not just of the hospitalization, which is obviously our largest concern, but about spread. And so that's sort of where the school committee dialogue kind of came from last night and according to policy, it's not the school committee or my decision. It really is the Board of Health, local Board of Health decision along with the health director that would make that decision.  We're not a Board of Health. We're not experts in this area, though everyone's been thrust into this, you know, in the last 18 months, but we're so fortunate to have you all to guide us along the way in many, many, many areas of this pandemic. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. And I looked up the best of my ability for the LA one for the vote today and that they want, as Mike said, by December 31st, all over 12 fully vaccinated. If you're extracurricular program like a band, which would be spewing, they want the second dose by the 31st of October. There's proof of vaccine to be on campus. And for 30 days after the 12th birthday, the child has to have their first shot. And nationally, we cannot have a national school vaccine requirement. The 10th amendment puts it all to the states. And the states make their regulations to protect the public health and in Massachusetts, the boards of health have to protect it. For exemptions in Massachusetts, we have religious and medical reasons, no philosophical reasons. Some states have philosophical reasons. And so that's what I spent my day looking at. Can we just do, you know, agree to the, let the school decide that things like the, the day that it goes into effect and just say, we approve of a vaccination requirement for students. I just had a question for Mike, can I ask that? Yes. In Los Angeles, they said that people who are vaccine hesitant would be able to attend school remotely. I don't know, is that something that you have considered in, in Amherst? I know the debt, the governor is not really in favor of any kind of remote education this year. Yeah. I think he's muted and I'm not. Okay. Yeah, I can, I can answer that. So that's not an option. There were, I think six or seven districts around the state. All of whom are larger than us. I believe who created remote options. It had to be at own remote school with its own remote principle. And no one in Hampshire or Franklin County participated in that. That program. So students options could be to go to a, there are two virtual schools in Massachusetts that are schools of choice. But it's not, we don't have a, we're not allowed right now to have a virtual option. Yeah. Thank you. What would you like to do, Steve? Do you want to make the motion? Sure. Sure. Okay. I move that. Board of Health. Adds. COVID vaccination to the list of. Vaccines that are required. In the school. And we'll leave up to the school to decide on the dates and details. Mike, does that meet your requirements? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's what the board, this board feels. We certainly could have a conversation at the school committee level. At our next meeting about the details that you're describing. So, you know, we, we. We trust you on that. And I think if the board ended up voting, whether it's tonight or at a future meeting along these dimensions, we would have a discussion and we would probably invite Miss Brown to join us for that. If she was amenable. I think that would be a good idea. I think that would be a good idea to talk about sort of implementation details. On that. So sort of if the board feels like adding the. This particular vaccine to the school requirements is a good idea. Then we certainly can. Work on the details at a later date and certainly. The other board members could participate. I don't want to speak for the chair of the school committee. I feel like I can know that we would certainly invite the board chair and or the director. Mike, would it help you if we did specify some of these or not? Um, it's a. I'm a little anxious to answer explicitly without the board. You know, my school committee being present on this meeting. But, you know, it may be helpful. To this is just me speaking. Again, I don't want to represent the committee. If you were going to vote this to have a no later than date. Cause that probably gives enough leeway for the board and myself to then work on details. Um, sort of the open ended pieces. Probably harder for us. Okay. Yeah.  But I think that's, that's certainly up to you all, but I think my instinct is a no later than is, is probably the right level of specificity. Like no later than November 1st or something. Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to make a judgment on the specific date, but yeah, I think. Uh, my instinct is that feels aggressive to me. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Um, but given just where we are in September and that the school committee won't meet again till. Uh, I think that's the right level of specificity. Um, I think that's the right level of specificity. Um, Um, two weeks from now to work on implementation. Um, Just when you start counting the days, it starts getting pretty tight and we would want to work with Miss Brown on a clinic, which she was so wonderful and supporting us with four last year. You know, there's some logistics around equity and access that we'd want to put into place to make sure that we're giving everyone, you know, full ability to, um, to receive the vaccine. Maybe no later than December, December 1st. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Should we specify, I think we should specify that it would be fully FDA approved that we wouldn't do what Los Angeles did and require it. Of the 12 to 15s at this point. I think it should be full. I really think it should be a full approval because you're going to need some buy-in from there's going to be a few people that are going to be, have a problem and the full approval will make a difference. I agree. Okay. Um, quick question. We are talking about, uh, Children as school children, right? Less than 16. The vaccine is not available. Right. No, we're not talking about those right now. Only I think maybe it has to be worded to be when it is fully full FDA approved per age group. I mean, it's going to be, uh, something that changes over time because, because I think soon the 12 to 15s will be FDA approved and eventually. You know, younger. But I think, I think we should stick with the full FDA approval as it rolls out. If anyone wants to come in who's younger or 12, of course. We certainly want to, um, Encourage the vaccine. I mean, already 80% of students seem to be. Vaccinated, which is fabulous. I think, you know, if you are deciding on a specific. Date to say no longer than. We are assuming that it will be fully, you know, uh, approved. Before that. So I, my recommendation is I think the school should. Take that decision. Depending upon what their requirements are because there's so many parameters. They probably will know the date by the time when the next school committee meets. I think they should take proactive efforts in that, you know, rather than be deciding on a date. I think, I think the date, Mike, is this correct? The date is for you to have the policy in place. So, um, I think there's, you know, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to follow the dialogue. Um, I'm getting on my laptop. It'll be a little easier than my phone. I know that I'm back at home. Um, I think what would be helpful. If you're going to pass, um, Pass a motion like that is for us to get a sort of. End date of when you think students who are eligible for what I'm hearing is full FDA approval. Um, should have be fully vaccinated. Um, and I think the next step after that would be the school committee. Understanding this mandate from the health board could then implement a policy at the school committee level to work on details of, uh, how that would be implemented. Um, but like the LA one, which is not, I'm not saying it's perfect. It tried to, it tries to set a date and a deadline, which then the school committee could backtrack from to say, okay, if, if. You know, I'm going to make up a date that's not, I'm going to make up a date. Um, I'm going to make up a date in the realm of possibility for you also that it's, it, I'm not leading you anywhere. Um, like May 1st. And then we say, okay, May 4 by May 1. Okay. Then we need to have our policy in place by February 1. We need to do clinics in March and April. Right. Um, so I think that's in my head, probably what would be most helpful if you're going to move forward with this is, uh, try to send, uh, Set up when you think students should be reasonably. Not able to get into the school committee, uh, um, implementation of it. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. So LA LA has it for December 31st. So if we gave you two additional months, that would be February 28. What do they ask, is there a winter break or some breaks coming in for the fall semester or something like that? be a trigger point we could use, you know, so when they come back in January or to join the school, that could be a motivation. Well, February vacation is February, the week of February 21st through the 25th. So February 28th would be the comeback day from that break. The Pfizer vaccine, is it being administered in physicians or PCPs, offices, because I don't think so. This is going to be a clinic that we're going to be doing, I think. Well, pharmacies have it, pharmacies, pharmacies. But I think, you know, it's something that we could offer as a clinic. I don't know what the numbers are going to be, but I'm thinking sort of logistically, you know, there's a lot going on with flu vaccine, and then the students are also getting updated with their other mandated vaccines that they're doctor's offices. And then you hit all the holidays and just, you know, if it could be after like around February, one final clinic, just to wrap things up. And that's just an idea. So then what about March 31st? Seems so far away. I know. I know. I know. You wanted sooner. Yeah, we do. Oh, okay. I thought you wanted it later. I don't know. We can definitely get a clinic, you know, together before the end of the calendar. Okay. So if LA is voting today, and it's going to be December 31st, what if we do January 31st? That gives the school board. Two more meetings to figure that out. And we don't have 600,000 students. No, no. No. So I want it to be doable. But I don't want so much time that, that we're, we're losing this golden opportunity to prevent spread. So I think that's a good idea. My daughter, my daughter is in, it teaches in, in Belcher town in the kindergarten. And after two weeks in school, she said, is it inevitable that we're all going to get all the kids under 12? We're going to get it. Because. You know, the kids, she said there was one kid positive in kindergarten. She said, and the kids wear the mask, but they fall down. They get wet. You know, the mandate doesn't help the littler kids. They don't have to wear the mask. They don't have to wear the mask. They don't have to wear it. It, it, it'll help families. Yeah. You can surround these little or kids with vaccinated people, the better. Right. So should we do January 31st? What exactly is it that will be, will happen on January 31st or buy them. A plan or, or actual vaccination. Two weeks before that, they have to finish their doses. Well, that's for the school committee to, to, you know, they can say, you have to have your first dose by then the school committee can work out the little bits like the LA district is. But if we're going to see January 31st, we have to say what it is. We're asking by January 31st. Vaccinated or to have the second dose by then. If you don't have more, think about this. Maybe we should not even try this because, you know, the, the full approval is an issue. Johnson and Johnson has one dose. Blah, blah, blah. I mean, Johnson and Johnson. The only one that's been approved is Pfizer. And it's Pfizer for 12. For 16 and up and 12 and over are getting it. And the LA says that first dose shall be admitted. Administered within 30 days after their 12th birthday. And they're using not the FDA approval, but we can say the FDA approval. And then they can roll what they need to it. If we sit back. It's another month or two or three that kids aren't getting vaccinated. And the more people that are vaccinated. The better chance we have, you know, South America is doing a much better job right now than the United States. Now we talked to friends in keto. They started immunizing in June. That's when they got the vaccine. Their school is remote or hybrid. You, they started age wise and, and risk wise and it gets. You get notified the date, the time and you show up and you get immunized. And everybody's wearing masks and nobody's fighting. No, I'm not going to get vaccinated. So we need to start pushing people to get vaccinated. I think. Yeah. Any control of this, this. Pandemic. So. The school is sent. Looks like school is enthusiastic about this. The school is enthusiastic about this. Yes. They are looking for some sort of a. General. Okay. From the board of health. Yes. But I also wanted to give the decision making to the school committee, you know, so that they can decide to go early. Or later, depending upon their logistics and infrastructure or whatever it is. And also they will, they're competent in terms of looking for what exactly the dates when the FDA approval happens and when they could do that. I think we don't have that information on. Implementation and all the timeliness. But if we can, if we can just have a general. Memo to them saying we agree that you should, you should go ahead and make this one some sort and then please feel free to follow as the deadlines, you know, whatever you feel for different age groups or availability of the FDA. I think that might be a better option rather than. We coming up a forcefully, we're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. I think that might be a better option rather than. We coming up a forcefully with a particular date. Mike has his hand raised because he asked for a day. Yeah. I have to say I worked in college health and we look to public health to say what we needed to do what schedule we needed to follow and so on and so forth. And you know, it really is a public health thing to say what, what this is. You know, it's not really an educational policy. To my, in my mind. So Mike, do you have your hand raised about the date or any more information you want to give us? Yep. So I'm sorry to make things complicated. I think I'm Mr. Randier made, I think a really good point. And again, because the school committee is not here tonight, I don't know, they might want to weigh in on the dates. So I apologize if I complicated matters.  Because we have a little bit of time here, there can be some. You know, I think if this board is going to vote to. Recommend and establish that this is a required vaccine. The school committee can then consider that. And perhaps if they have questions, they can follow up or we can do a joint meeting on the topic. But because they're not in this call, I'm just. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I probably would have loved to take, and probably you all would have liked to not have this 15 minutes. I should have taken that back piece back around the timing. I think the overall concept is probably the most important thing for you all to make a decision about. And then bring it to school committee where they can talk about implementation. They may want to come back to you. For your feedback on timeline. But I think one thing at a time might be. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I apologize. You know, hearing the conversation. I didn't mean to steer. Anybody down. Okay. We were putting the dates in because you said, oh, we need a day. Yeah, but remember. I'm the one that asked. I thought I was being helpful by saying, I said, you know, is there any more specificity issues? Let it go. So okay. Okay. Back to you. Thanks, Tim, for bringing that up. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for. Your motion. We're just saying that we, we moved to add. COVID vaccinations to the list of. Vaccines that are required. For attendance at the public schools. With. Details to be left up to this. Details of implementation to be left up to the school. Do we want to add upon FDA approval? Okay. Right now it's 16 and over. This is a regional issue too. Is not. Is it not. It would be for the. Middle school and high school region, which is, which is the only place we're going to be this whole year. Yeah. Yeah. So. I guess we can put our two cents in. Yes. Okay. So Steve's going to repeat the motion. We moved to add COVID vaccinations. Whether vaccine has full FDA approval to the list of required vaccines for public school attendance. Second. I second it. Any more discussion? Let's vote. Maureen, you're there smiling. Hi. Tim, you're smiling. Hi. You're busy writing. Hi. And Nancy I. Okay. I think I'm thinking the end is near. 736. Okay. That covers. I lost my agenda now. I moved all my papers around that covered everything on the agenda. Or. Jen, do you have anything else that we didn't get on the agenda? No, thank you very much. Okay. I'm going to go up. I have another one. I have to go on. I have another one. Oh, okay. Okay. So our next meeting is October 14th. I have to make myself a big note. I'm going to eat. I will do the. H nine to. Four, six, whatever it is. Okay. I will get the zero waste out to you. Within the next day. And then I need a motion to adjourn unless anyone else wants to add anything. I'll make a motion to adjourn. This meeting. Second. Okay. Tim. Hi. Steve. Hi. Maureen. Hi. Thank you all very much. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Jen. Thanks, Jen. Bye. Bye bye. Thank you.