Registration Open For Covid Vaccine Clinics In Belmont; March 22 & 23

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Photo: A pair of vaccine clinics in Belmont this coming week.

You’ll have a pair of opportunities to receive for free a first, second or booster Covid-19 vaccine shot in Belmont this coming week.

Residents will need to resent insurance cards, photo ID, and vaccination cards at their appointment.

On Tuesday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Belmont Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave., the Belmont Health Department will provide the Pfizer vaccine to one of two groups of residents:

  • Residents 5 to 11 years old can sign up to receive the 1st or 2nd dose* of the pediatric Pfizer vaccine.
  • Those 12 year old and older can register to receive the 1st, 2nd* or booster dose of the adult Pfizer vaccine.

Register for an appointment at Belmont Town Hall at: https://www.appointmentquest.com/scheduler/2180061935?schedule+belmontvaccineclinic

On Wednesday, March 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Belmont Council on Aging 266 Beech St., the Beech Street Center is offering Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to individuals 18+ to receive their 1st, 2nd or booster dose of the adult Moderna vaccine.

Register for an appointment at the Beech Street Center here: https://hipaa.jotform.com/220694271484157

*As long as it has been 5+ months since their second dose of Moderna or Pfizer, or 2+ months if they received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

If there is any difficulty with registering, call 617-993-2977 or email Dbickelman@belmont-ma.gov for assistance

Belmont Lifts Mask Mandates For Schools, Indoor Public Spaces

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Photo: Masks are no longer required in Belmont schools and at indoor spaces.

Beginning at midnight on Tuesday, March 8, Belmont’s town wide Covid-19 mask mandates for schools and indoor public settings are suspended after both the Select Board and School Committee voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Board of Health.

The three bodies, which met and voted in rapid succession Monday evening, effectively ends two years of wearing face coverings which began in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic with a short reprieve in late summer between surges of the coronavirus.

While the mandate has ended, the Health Board “highly recommends” children under the age of five – who can not receive a vaccination – and unvaccinated residents of any age to continue wearing masks. For public school students, masks are no longer be required riding school buses but they will continued are still required to wear masks in the nurses’ offices.

Although the mask mandate has been lifted for indoor spaces, businesses may choose to continue mask use for their establishments.

“Knowing that this decision will be applauded by some and met with disappointment by others, I would ask all of us to respect each other’s choices, and to proactively encourage our children to do the same.,” said John Phelan, Belmont’s Superintendent of Schools, in an email sent out to parents minutes after the Select Board vote.

The Health Board pointed to reduced transmission rates, high vaccination status and wider availability of testing as the main reasons for lifting the requirement. The Health Department’s Lindsey Sharp kicked off its Zoom presentation before more than 60 residents highlighting recent Covid-related data showing Belmont and Middlesex country now in a post-surge environment.

Vaccination rates by class in Belmont public schools

Sharp said Belmont’s average positivity rate for the first week in March at one percent, a significant reduction from the 6.4 percent rate during the surge in December and January while the pooled positivity rate in Belmont schools plummet from 15.3 percent in the second week of January to 2.5 percent one month later. Resident vaccination rates in Belmont increased from 55 percent in October 2021 to 83 percent in February with students hovering at 90 percent for middle and high schoolers and in the 70s for the lower grades.

“The numbers are looking great,” said Sharp.

During the public comment session, the remove-the-mandate residents said the science supported an end of the requirement.

”I clearly see that the time is right to remove the mandate,” said Patrick Whittemore.

Others, such as Nancy Snyder, said “there is no risk to keep (the mandate)” as it makes her and her friends “feel safe.”

The board members were in agreement to remove the mandate while pondering whether it should continue for children under the age of five. Rather than create confusion and noting the very low hospitalization rates, the board said it would “strongly recommend” than require masks for that group.

The board voted to “suspend” the mandate policy rather than striking it so when a time comes during another surge or a new virus emerges the board will be able to reinstate the policy quickly. In addition, the board approved an automatic reintroduction of the mask mandate if Middlesex county returns to a “high” level according to CDC guidelines.

Both the School Committee and Select Board took up the recommendations and voted to accept them. There was one change from the Select Board, rewriting the Health Board’s “automatic” reinstatement of the mask mandate to one where the Select Board would take a vote after reviewing the data, which the Health Board accepted.

Select Board, School Committee Votes Monday To End Town, Schools Mask Mandates After Teachers Union OKs Move

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Photo:

After a final possible stumbling block was cleared Friday, it’s all but certain that nearly two years of mask mandates for public spaces and school venues in Belmont will end at midnight, Tuesday, March 8 as the three main town bodies responsible for the requirements will, in all likelihood, vote to vacate the measures.

“We are moving forward with the knowledge that the mask mandate will likely be ending on Tuesday,” said Belmont Superintendent John Phelan on Friday, March 4, during the “topping off” ceremony for the middle school section of the new Middle and High School.

Monday’s busy schedule will include:

  • The Board of Health has scheduled at 4:30 p.m. a review, discussion and “possible vote” on face covering mandate in town followed immediately by a similar vote on school mask requirements at 4:40 p.m.
  • The Belmont School Committee will then assemble for a special meeting to discuss any recommendation and then vote on its mask policy at 6 p.m.
  • Finally, the Select Board, in a joint meeting with the Board of Health at 7 p.m., will meet to vote on lifting the town’s mask mandate followed by a vote to reinstate in-person meetings for town boards, commissions and committees.

Belmont’s move to lift its mandates come as government health agencies and many states and municipalities across the country have removed their mask requirements as infection rates due to Covid have fallen while vaccination rates have steadily risen.

Under the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued on Friday, March 4, residents in counties where the community risk determined through a metrics including hospital capacity levels, new cases and hospitalizations is considered “low” residents can do away with masks. Middlesex county, where Belmont is located, is like 90 percent of US counties which are classified as “low.”

This past week, Belmont has seen some of the lowest infection rates since the beginning of the coronavirus in March, 2020. In addition, residential vaccination rates are over 80 percent and 9 our of 10 students are vaccinated in the higher grades.

While Belmont will likely remove the mask mandates on Monday, the action is not coming as a surprise. In the first week of March, the Health Board began reviewing the data used to justify imposing the mask requirement with both the school committee and select board expressing confidence the mandate would be removed.

In fact, the Health Board had called for an “emergency” meeting on Monday Feb. 28 – the day Gov. Baker’s ended the state requirement for masks in school – take a vote on the mandate’s future. But just as quickly as the notice was posted, the meeting was cancelled as it was determined by town officials not to have met the criteria for an “emergency” and thus would violate the state’s 48-hour notice requirement for government meetings.

As the town was moving towards a vote, the school district began working with the Belmont Education Association to prepare for a future mask transition as required by a joint Memorandum of Agreement on Covid-19 protection measure with the existing contract.

After meeting with the School Committee and representatives of the school district on Wednesday, March 2, BEA members two days later approved in near unanimity – there was a single ‘no’ of the more than 70 Unit A members voting – to accept the MOA change. Under the new agreement, educators will not be punished for continuing to wear a mask or seek to keep a safe distance between them and students to lessen possible infection.

Town-Wide Covid Vaccination Clinic At Beth El Temple Monday, Feb. 28

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Photo: Covid vaccine clinic in Belmont on Monday, Feb. 28

The Belmont Health Department is offering COVID-19 vaccines to eligible residents, including first, second and booster shots on Monday, Feb. 28 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Beth El Temple Center, 2 Concord Ave.

Register for a vaccine appointment HERE.

Please present insurance cards, photo ID, and vaccination cards at appointment.

This clinic will be operated through a partnership between VaxinateRX and the Belmont Health Department. The Pfizer vaccine will be available.

Having difficulty registering? Call 617-993-2720 or Email: Lsharp@belmont-ma.gov for assistance

Maskless in March? Belmont Health Board Moving Towards Recommending Lifting Town, Schools Mask Mandate Next Month

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Photo: This sign could be obsolete in March.

With nationwide positive rates of Covid-19 infection are falling as quickly as they skyrocketed two months ago, the Belmont Board of Health declared it will take a vote on lifting the town-wide and school mask mandate in the next month.

“That’s our intent,” Board of Health Chair Donna David said affirming the board’s decision. “We see masking coming to our March meeting” after the board appeared ready to change how it will determine the green light for ending the mandate.

When David asked the town’s Health Department Director Wesley Chin if he will provide a heads up to Belmont Superintendent John Phelan to prepare for a possible lifting of the school mandate put in place when students came back to class in March 2021, an unknown resident who had not muted themselves after speaking earlier, spouted out “Yes! Yes!”

The Board of Health has sole responsibility on imposing and ending mask mandates in public schools; the Select Board will take the Health Board’s recommendation into consideration whether to move on cancelling the mandate for businesses, town buildings and other public locations.

Starting the portion of the meeting, David proclaimed “Let’s talk about masks, Wesley” who said his office has been receiving “a number of calls” on the subject.

The Health Board’s “update” comes as states and municipalities across the country have suddenly begun dismantling mandates and other preventive measures.

Health Agent Lindsey Sharp told the board the latest Covid infection data is showing “a definite down swing” in the past month as the number of positive cases has fallen from more than 200 a week two months ago to 156 last week and 86 for the current seven days while 80 percent of those infected have been vaccinated.

But while saying the “numbers are better, we’re not there yet,” said Chin, stating he would not recommend voting Monday to take down the mask mandate as February vacation week is about to occur and Chin wanted to see the numbers of infections. He also noted that there has not been a vaccine approved for the youngest residents under the age of five.

The meeting witnessed a coordinated group of residents whose mission was to press the point that requiring masks indoors in buildings and the six town schools had passed its expiration date. Pat Whittemore, who said his opinions on masks “are very well known” claimed children with positive cases are not likely to be hospitalized when infected with Covid. He advocated “a nice middle step” of making mask wearing voluntary in schools.

John Link said mask wearing is not effective for children as “kids have zero chance to die” when they catch the coronavirus. He also said mask wearing by children can potentially lose 10 points from their IQ. Rather than an “onerous regime of wearing masks,” he also believes masks should be up to the discretion of the parents. In the same vein, David McLaughlin said there is a greater danger for children to be masked than being stricken by the Covid Omnicron variant. (Board member Adrienne Allen noted approximately 800 pediatric deaths in the US have been caused by Covid “so it’s not trivial.”)

Other residents was concerned about the town mandating vaccine passports (the Health Board and Select Board have not considered a vote on these regulations currently used in Boston) while other pointed to the high rate of student vaccination – in the higher grades up to 90 percent – as being enough to deter Covid’s debilitation effects.

Some residents wanted to take a slower approach on ending the mask mandate. “Thank you for following the science,” said Marina Atlas who felt really confident by the board’s appropriate use of data that show that masks work on Covid and other air pollutants.

It soon became clear that the board would not take action at its meeting but “we should consider another few weeks” after the February break to review the Covid data in Middlesex country.

“But [mandates are] not going on forever,” said David, who suggested taking a vote at the board’s next meeting in a month’s time.

“I agree this is not forever, as long as [the data] improves,” said Allen. Member Julie Lemay suggested the board change the data rubric for ending the mandate from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates and rely on one which uses number of hospitalizations to cases as a possible standard.

”I like that,” said David.

As Omicron Waxes and Wanes, Belmont Schools Adjusts Covid Standards To Meet State, CDC Changes

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Photo: The FAQ page on the Belmont Public Schools’ website

As Belmont continues to see Covid-19 positive cases reach record numbers in the past week, the Belmont School District has adjusted the best practices in its attempt to mitigate the virus’ opportunity to spread through the six public school buildings in town.

At its Tuesday, Jan. 18 meeting, the School Committee heard from Belmont Superintendent John Phelan who came with a few changes from the proposed guidelines presented the week previous after the state made changes to its priorities on keeping schools open during the recent surge in Covid cases.

“We are dedicated to keep schools open for students and in person learning. I think we weathered the first two weeks for winter break relatively well … but not past [the Omicron surge] yet,” said Phelan, who added that staff and student attendance has reached 90 percent, a marked improvement in the past fortnight.

What parents and students can do in school and at home to dampen the spread of Covid-19

But Belmont continues to show unpresidential numbers of new cases: 759 in the fortnight ending Jan. 14, a 15 percent positivity rate of those tested. In the schools, the numbers are also daunting with 127 positive Covid cases effecting both teachers and students in the six schools “community as of the week ending Jan. 19. That is down from Jan. 3 number of 229 which was the first reporting date after the winter holiday break.

With cases expecat high levels to last for the next few weeks, Phelan said the school committee should codify much of what was discussed on Jan. 11.

School Committee discussed this updated guidance and approved the following for students and staff who test positive for Covid-19:

  • Fully vaccinated students and staff may return to school on day six after a five-day isolation period, as long as they have been fever-free for 24 hours and experienced improvement in other symptoms. They must mask when around others for the five days following their isolation period, according to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidelines. Fully vaccinated is two weeks after receiving the second dose of Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine or two weeks after the single dose of Johnson & Johnson. A booster shot is not required to be considered fully vaccinated.
  • All unvaccinated and partially vaccinated students and staff may return to school on day 11 after a 10-day isolation period. Students in K-8 will be provided tutoring due to their quarantined and or isolation status.
  • Students and staff will not be required to have a negative COVID test after their isolation period to return to classes.

One of the changes from the Jan. 11 recommendations was the committee exploring purchasing in conjunction with the town antigen tests as a screening tool for students who have tested positive after their five-day isolation period has expired. Phelan said that is likely “a moot point” as the state and federal governments are committed to providing tests to local school districts.

“So we’ll keep that motion at heart and we will continue to keep that in mind,” said Phelan, who called the initiative “great news … to have every staff and student who wants to take part to be able to take home their own test and test at home weekly.”

He also pointed to an extensive Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page sent to parents and guardians and on the district’s Covid webpage with questions ranging from what is the best way to screen children for Covid and when can students return to school.

The school committee on Jan. 11 asked its policy subcommittee to develop a vaccine mandate policy to be completed and voted on no later than June.

Covid Vaccine, Booster Shots At Belmont High On Wednesday; Register Now

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Photo: Get on the bus (Credit: mass.gov)

The Belmont Health Department is offering COVID-19 vaccines, including 1st, 2nd, and booster shots at the Mass Department of Public Health’s Mobile Vaccine clinic on Wednesday Jan. 12 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Belmont High School, 221 Concord Ave.

Register here for the clinic: https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/purpleshield?calendar=8d672bef-8ff4-464c-8fa1-524b3904a1f8

Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be available for all eligible ages for 1st, 2nd or booster doses.

  • Individuals 5-11 can sign up to receive their first or second dose of the pediatric Pfizer vaccine
  • Individuals 12+ can sign up to receive their 1st, 2nd, or booster* dose of the Pfizer vaccine
  • Individuals 18+ can also sign up to receive either 1st, 2nd, or booster* dose of the Moderna vaccine

Boosters are available to anyone as long as it has been more than six months since their second dose of the Moderna vaccine, five or more months since their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, or two or more months if they received the Johnson&Johnson vaccine

This clinic will be operated through a partnership between and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) Mobile Vaccine Program, Belmont Public Schools and the Belmont Health Department.

Phelan: District At ‘Breaking Point’ As Covid Cases Skyrocket In Belmont Schools

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Photo: Belmont Superintendent John Phelan

A snow day this past Friday couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for the Belmont District Schools.

As the Omicron variant of the Covid coronavirus sweeps through Belmont schools after students returned from the winter recess, absentees among educators and staff has placed the district close to a breaking point whether there’s enough teachers in each building.

The numbers say it all.

In the final week of 2021, 16 Belmont students, educators and staff reported being infected with a new case of COVID-19. A week later, on Jan. 5, that tally exploded to 228 novel positive cases across the district’s six schools.

New Covid positive cases
(students, staff, teachers)
Week endingnumber
01/05/2022228
12/29/202116
12/08/20214
11/17/20216

“The impact of the staff attendance and staffing levels is a real concern of the district,” Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan told the School Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 4 as 72 and 73 staff members were out on Monday and Tuesday respectively. And while praising substitute teachers and district employees for stepping up and filling in, Phelan told the committee the current patchwork approach for cover classrooms “is not sustainable.”

On Monday, Jan. 3, a staggering 605 district students (out of a total of approximately 4,600) were not in class while Tuesday showed an improvement where 473 were out due to Covid, traveling and those waiting for results of Covid tests. The usual number out on an average week is about 275. This is occurring in a system that has impressive numbers of vaccinated students. (See chart below)

“We believe that that we haven’t seen the worst of this phase of the virus at this point in time,” said Phelan, with the next weeks seeing staff and families make some “truly hard choices” related to going to school. Friday’s snow storm was a blessing for many teachers and family as it provided an extra day away from the classroom and added a day towards a quarantine total.

Phelan and his leadership team calculated teacher attendance would hover just below 90 percent which posed significant challenges requiring the district to set up a educational “triage” system to allow school to open on the first Monday of the new year.

On Sunday, teachers and staff came to Belmont to receive take home tests while on Monday the start of schools were delayed by one hour so teachers could receive KN95 masks, “ensure that we had time for our educators to get together, our principals with teachers and other administrators to support the setting up of the school day.”

Staff, central office personnel and other non-educators were redeployed and placed in classrooms to support teachers. The district also doubled its rate for substitute teachers while proactively recruiting to ensure it has sufficient numbers to place before students arrived on Monday

But even with adults in the classroom, Phelan said certain aspects of the school day have been lost such as small group instruction and parts of the traditional school day schedule that teachers can best perform effectively.

The challenge of lunch

Phelan also pointed to student lunch time as “one of the largest challenges moving forward.” With the large tents at the elementary and Chenery schools allowing for an outside option taken down for the winter, Phelan said he is attempting to balance Covid safety with feeding students. That will require keeping masked in the cafeteria, assigned seating, shortening lunch times by sending students to recess early, keep talking to a minimum and keeping their distance.

Sports and extracurriculars will soon see restrictions on the number of who can attend contests, restrictions on using locker rooms and a greater emphasize on proper mask wearing during play. This comes after a growing number of student/athletes and at least two sporting events were cancelled due to Covid outbreaks.

Phelan has been in discussion with his fellow area superintendents on possible changes to the schedule or length of the school day for elementary, middle and high schools as a way of keeping them safe from spread while providing adequate education.

“We want to keep our options open,” Phelan told the committee. Moving forward, the district will be keeping an eagle eye on in-school transmission rates, new positive cases in the community and keep appropriate staffing levels to allow schooling to take place.

While more parents and guardians are calling for the district and committee to consider the role of remote learning during this surge, Belmont – along with school districts statewide – finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Districts are prohibited by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to return to full-time remote learning. And while DESE has established a protocol for when a school or entire district can seek permission to re-impose virtual learning, it has been done only in “a very few cases,” in the past months, said Phelan.

“{DESE) is keeping a very tight rein on [granting waivers],” he said.

Please Remember

When asked by the Belmontonian if the district has set a benchmark of when it would be prudent to close schools due to staff shortages, Phelan said there was no set percentage.

“We will assess our staffing levels daily to determine our coverage models. This looks different at each level. We need to assure that all students are engaged and properly supervised,” he said.

If a school or district simply must close due to staffing shortages, Phelan said DESE has informed districts they will need to use a “snow day” with the requirement it is made up at the end of the school year.

The district’s actions this week are at best a stop gap until the pandemic peters out which health experts said will not happen soon enough. All this is being played out as the district is facing ever “shifting guidance” from state and federal agencies on Covid safety.

Phelan told the committee the recommendations from the CDC and DPH are, at best, “inconsistent” such as the CDC requiring 10 days out of class and DESE five; no requirement for testing to return that many parents and school administrators find and DESE and CDC not on the same page on contract tracing (Belmont has abandoned it due to staffing issues).

The district will also step up its promote parents to sign up their students for pool testing, which “is more important now than ever for us to get a very clear picture through pool testing mechanism … for this upcoming year,” said Phelan.

While it has a plan in place to continue in-school education, Phelan said the new reality of variants and their impact will remain with the district when this current surge subsides.

“This is only one step in a long journey,” said Phelan.

Belmont Records First Covid Death In 9 Months As Positive Cases Spike

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Photo: The latest update of Covid in Belmont

A resident died two week ago due to the Covid-19 virus, the first Belmont victim since March, as the number of positive cases in town and across the nation are approaching all-time highs over the holiday season.

The death occurred during the week of Dec. 10-17, the first fatality linked to the coronavirus since March 19 when two Belmontians succumbed to the virus.

The deaths comes as the number of positive Covid cases have skyrocketed to near record numbers not seen since the worst days of the pandemic in January 2021. Belmont recorded 106 new positive cases in the week ending on Dec. 24, up from 61 in the pervious week. There has been 1,741 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Belmont since the first cases in the pandemic were reported in March 2020. Currently, Belmont and Middlesex County remains at “high risk” for the spread of Covid according to guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I wish I could say we’re in a better place but we continue to in the wrong direction like much of the states,” said Wesley Chin, Belmont’s Health director, pointing to the Omicron variant of Covid-19 which is sweeping across the country. The Washington Post reported top US health officials warned that the country “will probably see record numbers” of cases as the new variant “spreads rapidly.”

Of the new cases in Belmont, 57 percent are breakthrough which is an infection that occurs to a fully vaccinated person, said Chin. A further 8 percent of those infected involve those who have received a booster, or third, shot.

The one piece of good news during this surge is that hospitalizations of those infected is quite low. “This month we’ve learned of two hospitalizations,” said Chin, with most people being able to be treated at home with mild to moderate symptoms.

“The takeaway message is it seems like the booster shots are helping, so we want to encourage people to get their … shots,” said Chin.

The Health Department is holding a “booster” clinic on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at Beth El Temple Center geared for students between 16 and 17 years old who are now eligible for the shot.

Vaccine Clinic/Booster Shots For Students, Young Adults on Dec. 28; Covid Surge Testing Jan. 8-9

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Photo: Belmont will be providing booster shots and testing in the coming weeks for the youngest residents in town. (credit: Spencerbdavis, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0)

“Booster shots help,” said Adam Dash, chair of the Belmont Select Board at its Monday, Dec. 20 meeting. And along with Covid testing can mitigate the surge of the coronavirus’ Omicron variant.

But as Dash noted, “Getting the booster shot has been difficult” as people clamber for the chance to get their third dose of the vaccine. As for testing, home Covid kits have all but sold out in most stores while state health officials said daily testing sites have handled between 75,000 to 135,00 people for the past week with waits typically running two hours and more. The line at a free testing site in the Cambridgeside Galleria in Cambridge extended up and around the three mezzanine levels.

So here is some welcome news: Belmont will be providing booster shots and testing in the coming weeks for some of the youngest town residents.

The Health Department is holding a pediatric vaccine clinic on Tuesday, Dec. 28 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Beth El Temple Center at 2 Concord Ave. “This clinic is going to be geared primarily towards 16- and 17-year-old who are recently eligible for booster shots,” said Wesley Chin, Belmont’s health director.

  • Individuals 5-11 can sign up to receive their first or second dose of the pediatric Pfizer vaccine
  • Individuals 12+ can sign up to receive their first or second dose of the adult Pfizer vaccine, or Moderna if they are 18+
  • Individuals 16-17 can also sign up to receive a Pfizer booster shot*
  • Individuals 18+ can also sign up to receive either a Pfizer or Moderna booster shot*

Register for a vaccine appointment here: https://www.appointmentquest.com/scheduler/2180061935?schedule=belmontvaccineclinic

For the second time after a holiday, Belmont and Lexington will be holding joint Covid testing clinics for their residents.

The testing in Belmont will be held on Jan. 8 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School; Lexington will hold its on Jan. 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Lexington public school administration building gymnasium, 146 Maple St. Residents of either town can

Call the Health Department with any questions at 617-993-2720.