Town Of Bedford Publishes Coronavirus Update For October 15

Press release from the Town of Bedford:

October 15, 2020

The Bedford COVID-19 Task Force met Thursday, October 15, 2020 to review the latest guidance from the MA Department of Public Health (MA DPH), the office of Governor Charlie Baker, and Town Legal Counsel.

The COVID-19 Task Force is comprised of the following Town officials:

Sarah Stanton, Town Manager

Philip Conrad, Superintendent of Schools

Heidi Porter, Director of Health and Human Services

Robert Bongiorno, Police Chief

David Grunes, Fire Chief

Taissir Alani, Facilities Director

Christopher Laskey, Code Enforcement Director

Case Counts

The MA DPH is reporting COVID-19 data on a community level and releasing the data weekly on Wednesdays. Based on this data, each city or town is designated a color – gray, green, yellow or red. Gray and green are lower risk communities, yellow represents a moderate risk community and red represents a higher risk community. Based on data reported by the state through yesterday, Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Bedford is now a green community, a lower risk category than last week, with an average daily incidence rate of 3.36 cases per 100,000 population, a decrease over last week. The color coded relative risk designation established by the state is a tool that can be used by the Town to set policy and implement safety protocols for the protection of the community. In the coming weeks, this data will continue to be updated by the state on a weekly basis. For the current color coded risk map, please navigate to: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/community-level-covid-19-data-reporting.

COVID-19 Positive Case Follow-up and Contact Tracing

The Bedford Board of Health (BOH) is notified of all Bedford residents who test positive for COVID-19 by the Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network (MAVEN), a division of the MA DPH. Additionally, the BOH receives verbal notifications from residents, school nurses who are in communication with parents and school staff, community members and area businesses. Although MAVEN is our official notification portal, at this time we will initiate case communication and determination of close contacts based on verbal notifications.

Once the notification comes into the BOH, the BOH, School Nurses or our Contact Tracing Collaborative (CTC) colleagues:

• conduct a lengthy interview with the positive case/guardian/caregiver, to determine any close contacts over the infectious period. This includes contacts both in and out of school.
• determine isolation period for the case.
• monitor case over isolation period for symptom development and severity.
• provide protocols for cleaning and sanitizing the living/work environment.
• connect case to support and wrap around services as needed.
• give clearance for them to return to daily activities, once it is determined to be safe to do so.

When positive cases are young children, we rely on the ability to confirm self-reports provided by young children with information received from parents/caregivers and teachers/proctors in an attempt to gather a full understanding of the potential for exposure to others. The BOH will review individual circumstances for school and non-school related cases to determine potential exposure based on age, behavior and type of activity that took place.

Once close contacts are identified and the case is reported as positive for COVID-19 in MAVEN, the identified close contacts are contacted by the BOH, School Nurses or the CTC and instructed to quarantine for 14 days, with day 1 of the quarantine period starting the day after their last contact with the positive case. They are also instructed to get tested for COVID-19. Answering your phone and cooperating is key to contact notification and minimizing the spread of COVID-19.

If the case was in school during the infectious period and identification of close contacts is unable to be confirmed (i.e. the case is a young student), then the occupants of entire classroom/space in which that case was present while infectious will be considered close contacts and quarantined.

For more information on case follow-up, the infectious period for COVID-19, contact tracing and school related questions, please view the Board of Health Document - Responding to Positive Cases of COVID-19 and Contact Tracing – FAQ, found here: https://www.bedfordma.gov/bedford-board-of-health/news/responding-to-positive-cases-of-covid-19-and-contact-tracing-faq.

INTERFACE Help Line Available to Bedford Residents

During this time of purposeful separation from loved ones, friends and neighbors in an effort to keep each other safe, feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression may set in or perpetuate and the need for access to mental health services becomes even more crucial.

The Town of Bedford and the Bedford Public Schools want to ensure the Bedford community and school population are familiar with our affiliation with the William James College INTERFACE Referral Service, an outpatient mental health resource and referral Helpline, open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm, and available to Bedford residents and students of Bedford Public Schools. The Helpline can be reached at 888-244-6843 for resource information and/or outpatient mental health provider referrals from a trained resource and referral counselor.

INTERFACE Resource and Referral Counselors utilize a database of over 9,000 licensed and vetted providers. Callers receive a referral match, on average, within 2-3 weeks of their call to INTERFACE. The number of matched referrals and the time it takes to secure a matched referral will depend on a variety of factors, including insurance or fee requirement, specialty request, location need, and general availability of both callers and providers.

After providing referral matches, INTERFACE Resource and Referral Counselors contact callers to follow up to see if the referrals provided were a good fit for the needs described during the intake and to provide additional support and education. Counselors continue to work with the caller until a successful match has been established or the caller indicates they are satisfied and no additional assistance is needed at that time.

Common Sense Actions to Protect Yourself and Others from COVID-19

Employ Social Distancing Basics:

• Stay Home, especially if you’re feeling sick, have a fever, or a cough as to avoid contact with other individuals. If you are sick, stay at home and contact your healthcare provider for further instructions.
• Call/Facetime/Online chat with friends and loved ones
• Frequently clean and sanitize common-touch surfaces

If you go out for essential needs:

• Avoid Crowds
• Stay 6 feet away from others
• Don’t shake hands or hug
• Wear a face covering or mask if physical distancing is not possible. Always have a face covering with you. You cannot always predict or control when someone will be close to you.

Follow the 3 Ws – Wash your hands, Wear a mask, Watch your Distance!

Need a COVID-19 test?

Free COVID-19 testing sites are open in numerous communities as part of the Baker-Polito Administration’s “Stop the Spread” initiative. Visit www.mass.gov/stopthespread for free testing site locations.

If you need testing closer to home, consider navigating to https://memamaps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eba3f0395451430b9f631cb095febf13 to find a testing site. Check with your insurance company for covered services prior to booking an appointment for testing.

This press release was produced by the Town of Bedford. The views expressed here are the author’s own.