Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito,
Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) strongly urges you to establish a more inclusive, broad-based Reopening Advisory Commission that should include:
- Experts in public health, who should play a leadership role, such as:
- Dr. Ashish Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, and/or others from the Harvard School of Public Health
- Dr. Donald Berwick
- Representatives of workers, particularly those in essential, front-line jobs interacting with the public on a routine basis, including nurses and teachers in early care and education, K-12 schools, and higher education
- Representatives of populations that have been most negatively affected by COVID-19 such as:
- People of color
- People from geographic areas with high COVID-19 rates, e.g., Chelsea
- People from densely populated urban areas, e.g., Boston, Lawrence, Holyoke, etc.
- People in nursing homes, including the Soldiers’ Homes, and other senior living facilities
- Representatives from advocacy groups for racial, economic, and social justice, such as Raise Up Massachusetts
Furthermore, we strongly urge your administration to:
- Continue to increase the state’s capacity for and implementation of testing, both for COVID-19 and for antibodies. The current reopening plan envisions increasing COVID-19 testing to 45,000 tests per day by the end of July and 65,000 by December. Public health experts recommend testing at least 130,000 people per day and the sooner the better.
- Implement effective contact tracing so people potentially exposed to the coronavirus by people who have tested positive can be quarantined.
- Continue to take steps on reopening in accordance with data on key indicators of the pandemic’s spread and impact. Please pay particular attention to data from the most vulnerable populations, such as people in nursing homes, workers in front-line essential jobs, people of color, and people in high-incidence geographic locations.
- Make detailed data available to public health experts and the public on a frequent and transparent basis. Make sure the data are accurate and consistent.
Our recommendations echo those of the Task Force on Coronavirus & Equity, a coalition of 94 public health, community, and labor organizations including the Massachusetts Public Health Association, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, and Health Resources in Action.
These actions are essential to ensure that all Massachusetts residents are as safe as possible and that the Commonwealth minimizes the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths as we reopen our society and economy.
Thank you for your time and attention to these concerns.
Sincerely,
The Leadership Team of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts
Peter Enrich, Chair, Lexington
Hope Anderson, Lowell
Cathleen Cavell, Brookline
Jeanne Kempthorne, Pittsfield
Jeanne Krieger, Lexington
John Lippitt, Reading
Mary Ann Stewart, Lexington
Corinne Wingard, Agawam