"Local public health officials were excited when the Baker administration recently announced a modest grant program to help beleaguered towns and cities be better prepared for the next pandemic. For the first time in decades, they said, the state was investing new money on the front lines of disease prevention.But then came Governor Charlie Baker’s announcement on Thursday that not a single dollar out of $2.8 billion in federal pandemic relief funding he plans to allocate would go toward public health programs. Instead, he said, the money would be used to ease the state’s housing crunch and other priorities.Now, some of the same leaders who were praising the administration days ago are lamenting what they say is Baker’s shortsightedness. They believe the governor is missing a historic opportunity to make a dramatic new investment in the state’s tattered public health system."
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Sunday, June 20, 2021
Boston Globe: "Local officials say Baker is failing to invest in state’s broken public health system"
Sunday, March 28, 2021
FM #501 Health Director Cathleen Liberty - 03/17/21 (audio)
FM #501 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 501 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Health Director Cathleen Liberty on March 17, 2021. We had our conversation via virtual conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
We talk about the major topics of
- COVID-19
- Emergency dispensing
- Drive through flu clinic
- Mosquitoes
- Returning to ‘normal’
The recording runs about 31 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Cathleen. Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/35fbeef7-0241-4769-97c4-2e359d744d55
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Health Dept. page
https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department
Board of Health page
https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department
Prior podcasts with Cathleen
421 - Dec 17, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/12/fm-421-health-director-cathleen-liberty.html
391 - Nov 12, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/11/fm-391-health-dir-cathleen-liberty.html
355 - Sep 29, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/10/fm-355-town-of-franklin-health-director.html
271 - May 11, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/10/fm-355-town-of-franklin-health-director.html
259 - April 29, 2020 BoH Chair Bridget Sweet & Cathleen Liberty https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/05/fm-259-board-of-health-c-liberty-b.html
232 - March 27, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/03/fm-232-franklin-ma-health-director.html
224 - March 13, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/03/fm-224-health-director-cathleen-liberty.html
204 - Feb 12, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/02/fm-204-health-director-cathleen-liberty.html
196 - January 28, 2020 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/01/fm-196-cathleen-liberty-franklins.html
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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
- If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
Town of Franklin Health Director Cathleen Liberty |
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
MA State News: "Should we still call it ‘commuter’ rail?"; uncertainty in the vaccine numbers
"Should we still call it ‘commuter’ rail?"
"The MBTA is launching a fairly radical change to its commuter rail operations on April 5, running fewer trains at the traditional morning and evening peaks and spreading service out at regular intervals over the course of the day – what some call regional rail.
On the Framingham-Worcester line, trains currently depart from Worcester for Boston at 5:30 a.m., 7 a.m., and 8:50 a.m. and then run at roughly two-hour intervals the rest of the day. Under the new approach starting April 5, the first train from Worcester will depart at 4:15 a.m., the next train at 5 a.m., and then trains will depart every hour on the hour for the rest of the day until 7 p.m. The three late-night trains will depart at 8:20, 9:20, and 10:20.
The idea behind the scheduling experiment is that COVID has disrupted ridership patterns. No one is quite sure what riders will want in the future, but the feeling is that they will no longer rigidly commute into work in the morning and return in the evening. They want more flexibility and greater frequency. And they want schedules that are easy to remember."
"WHEN THE MASSACHUSETTS COVID-19 Command Center calculates how many people are eligible for vaccinations in each of the state’s three phases, there’s a problem: The total number is 1 million more adults than actually live in the state.The main reason is that the state is double counting many individuals in these estimates.As a result, while the Command Center has said an estimated 2.55 million people could become eligible for vaccinations in the final group – generally healthy people between ages 16 and 55 who are not essential workers – the uncertainty in the numbers raises the possibility that the final group may be smaller than expected."
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
FM #492 - Senator Becca Rausch - 03/11/21 (audio)
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Senator Becca Rausch.
Last meet/recorded Aug 14, 2020 on the Franklin Town CommonHow are you doing?
Priorities this yearVaccine equity/ post pandemicVoting rights
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/08/fm-331-senator-becca-rausch-81420-audio.html
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
- If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
Senator Becca Rausch (Twitter profile image) |
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Franklin TV: Scope - This is huge!
by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 03/14/2021
While recording a recent session of our weekly radio program ‘More Perfect Union’ I noted a reaction from our roundtable panelists to my somewhat casual comment. We were discussing the nettlesome issues around the vaccine rollout. I was not criticizing either Charlie Baker or Joe Biden. I was addressing the unprecedented enormous challenges they are facing.
The key word to keep in mind: unprecedented.
The challenges of the pandemic are indeed unprecedented in scope.
When scrambling to address today’s emergency today, it’s almost impossible to fully anticipate the downstream emergent needs of tomorrow. “Warp Speed” was a simplistic response – throw some money at the private sector and hope. The science came through, but it wasn’t backed with a forward plan for the follow-on logistics.
Scope:
Administering the three vaccines will require ≈450MM (million) doses to ≈300MM willing Americans. (Yes, I’m more than willing.) At 5 minutes per, that’s ≈37.5MM person/hours or ≈4.7MM 8-hour days. That means between now and mid-June we need at least ≈52 thousand trained personnel working 7 days/week. No slack time.
A best-case working assumption – 15 workers per site. (Clearly not the case.) This means that vaccines must be distributed timely as needed to ≈4K sites. Logistics. Considering small sites with 1 or more workers – it’s more like ≈20 thousand sites? That’s how Biden’s team estimated a need for 20K pharmacies and health centers. The President’s team clearly understands logistics, science and math.
Joe also recently arranged to stockpile vaccine for all Americans who want it by the end-of May. Now the challenge is getting that vaccine into arms. They are ramping up and organizing that Herculean effort as quickly as possible. The challenge? Create a temporary national organization having 50 thousand trained staff. All hands on deck who can vaccinate – from dentists to optometrists; from EMT’s to midwives; from veterans to veterinarians.
SoW – The Scope-of-Work: The pandemic – It’s big. It’s complex. It’s also unstable. We’re asking the Biden administration to work a miracle. He promised 100 million doses in arms in 100 days. A reasonable goal, It got done by day 60. Recall that when Joe took office, he asked us all to mask up for 100 days. A reasonable request. Are we all doing our part?
During our radio session I quipped – Good, Fast. Cheap. Pick two.
You want Good & Fast? It won’t be Cheap.
You want Fast & Cheap? It won’t be Good.
You want Good & Cheap? It won’t be Fast.
A corollary observation about shaping the scope of any endeavor. When it’s all over you’ll get to explain one thing:
High Expense Why it costs so much.
Poor Quality Why it works so bad. (-and/or looks so ugly.)
Late Timing Why it’s not done yet.
The first is often the easiest to explain. We are attempting to accelerate the pace, to literally buy time. In this case, time is not only money; it’s also lives. We are in an urgent fight to save lots of lives. We’re scrambling to save our national economy and personal livelihoods. Time is not on our side, yet we have no other choice but to fight the good fight. Time is a terrible taskmaster. We the electorate also can be terrible taskmasters, seeking affordable, instant perfection from political leaders.
The total $6,000,000,000,000.00 (trillion) government bailout cost will average $1,700.00 in annualized per capita cost for every single American over the next decade. That’s $7,000.00/year for a family of four. Scope.
Consider these numbers as well:
Annual U.S. Domestic Product: $21,000,000,000,000.00
The Federal Government runs on $3,360,000,000,000.00 (16% of GDP.)
The Feds spent almost 2X their annual budget trying to save us. That’s – um, a lot? More specifically, it raises the total projected Fed budget to 19% GDP for a decade. Now, to be perfectly unclear, if all the economists were laid out end-to-end, they wouldn’t reach a conclusion. ( – unknown) Economics is known as the dismal science, and I’m pretty dismal at it. Thus, I can’t opine as to how our national economy will absorb the cost and continue to grow. However, that too, is actually possible.
Hopefully, it will grant us all brighter days ahead.
But, for now – the cost of salvation is dear, non-negotiable, but absolutely necessary.
And – as always –
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm.
And, thank you for watching.
Listen to "Toward A More Perfect Union" on Monday’s at 11 AM, 2 PM and 8 PM at wfpr.fm or 102.9 on the local area dial.
Franklin TV: Scope - This is huge! |
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Boston Globe: "The power for the public sector to mandate vaccines is clearer"
"The first shots against the coronavirus made their way into the arms of eager front line health care workers nationwide this week, providing a glimmer of hope for a post-pandemic world. But once those volunteers are all vaccinated, some workers who are less excited about the vaccine could face mandates to receive it anyway, public health and legal experts say.
For now, doses of the newly authorized Pfizer vaccine are in short supply and have not yet been approved for use in children or pregnant women, meaning any potential mandates are likely still months or more away. But while President-elect Joe Biden has said he doesn’t support a vaccine mandate, in the future, private businesses, schools, and perhaps even states and localities could require the shots for those who don’t qualify for religious or medical exemptions.
“I absolutely envisage that, say, by the fall, when students are coming back to universities and when businesses are coming back and we want to get our economy on track, that there will be requirements for students and employees to be vaccinated,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law specializing in public health law."
Friday, November 20, 2020
"Red communities double; Lawrence cases keep rising"; Franklin rising too
From CommonWealth Magazine we share an article of interest for Franklin:
"THE NUMBER of communities considered high risk for COVID-19 doubled again this week, while the number of deaths statewide continued to creep upward at a much slower pace.
Three weeks ago the Baker administration revised the metrics it uses to determine a high-risk community, which caused the number to drop from 121 to 16. Since then, the number of high-risk, or red, communities has started rising again, going from 16 three weeks ago to 31 a week ago to 62 on Thursday.
Lawrence, where state and local officials have been trying for weeks to rein in the disease, continued to slip out of control. The municipality reported a whopping 108.1 cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks and a positive test rate (positive tests divided by total tests) of 13.01 percent. Last week, Lawrence was at 82.6 cases per 100,000 people with a positive test rate of 11.78 percent."
Continue reading the article online https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/red-communities-double-lawrence-cases-keep-rising/
The Franklin case numbers continue to climb rapidly. The Town chart updated as of 11/18/20 shows 104, the State chart updated 11/19/20 shows 116. https://www.mass.gov/doc/weekly-covid-19-public-health-report-november-19-2020/download
The Franklin chart https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/uploads/covid-19_case_counts_17.pdf
The Franklin COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb rapidly |
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Washington Post: "a far more muscular federal approach"
"Joe Biden has created a war-cabinet-in-waiting on the coronavirus pandemic, with major figures from the Obama, Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations drafting plans for distributing vaccines and personal protective gear, dramatically ramping up testing, reopening schools and addressing health-care disparities.The effort began six months ago when the campaign consulted David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner under Presidents Bush and Bill Clinton, and Vivek H. Murthy, surgeon general under President Barack Obama, on how to run a presidential campaign during a pandemic.The pair, along with a growing cadre of volunteer health experts, has been working behind the scenes to craft plans that could take effect Jan. 20, when the next president will take the oath of office, said Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser on the Biden campaign.
Biden has laid out a far more muscular federal approach than has President Trump, whose “failures of judgment” and “repeated rejection of science” the Democrat first pilloried in a Jan. 27 op-ed about the crisis. Biden has said that he would urge state and local leaders to implement mask mandates if they are still needed, create a panel on the model of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s War Production Board to boost testing, and lay out detailed plans to distribute vaccines to 330 million people after they are greenlighted as safe and effective."
“I do believe that that authority has been there to deal with disasters”
From the Milford Daily News and CommonWealth Magazine, articles of interest for Franklin:
Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s highest court is poised to decide whether Gov. Charlie Baker’s string of executive orders were a legally appropriate response to contain the highly infectious virus or if he overstepped the authority outlined in law.
An attorney representing business owners and religious leaders who sued the Baker administration argued in court Friday that Baker has “turned the government upside-down” by taking significant individual action, rather than executing laws passed by the Legislature, during the public health crisis.
“At this point, the Legislature is left to approve or disapprove of the governor’s policy choices,” Michael DeGrandis, a lawyer with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told justices. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work. The governor is merely supposed to execute the policy choices of the Legislature. For the Legislature to make a change, the Legislature would also have to have a veto-proof majority to do so. That is standing the government on its head. That’s not a republican form of government.”
"SEVERAL MEMBERS of the Supreme Judicial Court seemed wary on Friday of upending the fight against COVID-19 during a hearing on a case challenging the sweeping powers Gov. Charlie Baker has exercised over the last seven months in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
The justices, meeting via a Zoom call, are being asked to declare the governor’s March 10 emergency declaration and his subsequent slew of executive orders illegal and void. The plaintiffs, a group of business owners and pastors, say the governor’s reliance on the 1950 Civil Defense Act for his authority was improper. They say the governor should have relied on the older Public Health Law that specifically deals with infectious diseases and grants additional powers to local boards of health. If the governor needs more authority to deal with the crisis, the plaintiffs say, he should go to the Legislature and ask for those powers.
There was a lot of legal discussion between the justices and the attorneys representing Baker and the plaintiffs, but the judges at various points seemed genuinely concerned about what would happen on the ground if they sided with the plaintiffs.
“Don’t you have to admit that Gov. Baker has done a pretty darn good job here, especially when you compare him to other states?” asked Justice Elspeth Cypher, who was appointed to the SJC by Baker."
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/sjc-seems-wary-of-upending-covid-19-fight/
Saturday, August 29, 2020
In the News: "the position is typically held by FDA civil servants, not political appointees"
From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:
"The credibility of two of the nation’s leading public health agencies was under fire this week after controversial decisions that outside experts said smacked of political pressure from President Donald Trump as he attempts to move past the devastating toll of the coronavirus ahead of the November election.
The head of the Food and Drug Administration grossly misstated, then corrected, claims about the life-saving power of a plasma therapy for COVID-19 authorized by his agency. Then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated its guidelines to suggest fewer Americans need to get tested for coronavirus, sparking outrage from scientists.
Trump’s own factual misstatements about COVID-19 are well documented, but the back-to-back messaging blunders by public health officials could create new damage, eroding public trust in front-line agencies. That’s already raising concerns about whether the administration will be forthcoming with critical details about upcoming vaccines needed to defeat the pandemic.
“I do worry about the credibility of the FDA and CDC, especially at a time when the capacity of the federal government to advance public health should be a priority for all policymakers,” said Daniel Levinson, former longtime inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees both the FDA and the CDC."
Please find links to current information regarding the COVID-19 outbreak from State and Federal agencies |
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
FM #271 Franklin Health Director - Cathleen Liberty 5/11/20 (audio)
Town of Franklin Health Director Cathleen Liberty took some time from her schedule to sit and talk about something other than the coronavirus. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
While we are out on trail and in the outdoors, in general during this pandemic period, Cathleen informs us on some of the precautions to take with regards to avoiding ticks and mosquitoes. The new term from this conversation is “questing”. Questing is the term for the tick looking to jump to a food source.
We review the precautions that should be part of the daily hygiene when we head outdoors and make it as frequent a part of the routine as adding sunscreen lotion.
The recording runs about 22 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Cathleen Audio file = https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-271-franklin-health-director-cathleen-liberty-5-11-20
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Town of Franklin Health Dept page https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department
Tick questing from the CDC page https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html
EPA mosquito repellent page https://www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/deet
--------------
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
- If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
adult deer tick (photo by Scott Bauer) |
Friday, May 15, 2020
New Resources to Help Massachusetts Residents Cope During COVID-19
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, nearly 1 in 2 Americans say they are now dealing with anxiety and depression, double the normal rate from a year ago, according to Kantar’s National Health & Wellness study.
Massachusetts’ new awareness campaign centers around “What If?,” a new video promoting the power of reaching out and connecting with those who might be struggling to cope, and includes practical tips and resources on the enhanced mass.gov/covid19 site.
“May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is particularly important this year to address one of the common, but less talked about, challenges brought on by the pandemic – the feeling of being alone during uncertain times,” said Senate President Karen Spilka. “One of the most fundamental things anyone can do to help those struggling to cope is simple: reach out to your friends or loved ones to see how they are doing. This campaign also seeks to connect those who may need additional resources to the supports we have available as a state. I’m proud to partner with Secretary Sudders and her team on this timely and necessary effort.”
“We know that COVID-19 is impacting people’s mental health in very different, but very profound ways,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders. “Social distancing and staying at home, while necessary and effective during this public health crisis, can create challenges for everyone, and especially for those with behavioral health conditions. In partnership with Senate President Spilka, the effort launched today will raise awareness that there are many ways to cope.”
The 30 second video, which will be promoted across social and digital media channels over the coming weeks, was produced in coordination with the Massachusetts State Senate, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health using funding provided by the Behavioral Health Outreach, Access and Support Trust Fund created in the Fiscal Year 2020 state budget.
The video asks people to take four simple steps: Ask, Listen, Encourage, and Check-in. It also directs viewers to online resources at mass.gov/CopingDuringCovid that offer information and suggestions on how to stay connected to loved ones and creative ways to cope, as well as the importance of using the free and confidential 2-1-1 system to talk to someone.
The “What if?” video is the first part of a larger public information campaign on mental health stigma, sponsored by Senate President Spilka and Secretary Sudders, scheduled to launch later this summer.
More information on how you can get help is available by visiting Mass.gov/CopingDuringCovid or calling 2-1-1 to speak to someone anonymously
https://youtu.be/_-yigNjsnQY
Saturday, March 28, 2020
In the News: DPH commissioner positive for coronavirus
"Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, who has been at the center of the state’s efforts to respond to the outbreak of a deadly coronavirus, has tested positive for COVID-19, according the Department of Public Health, and will recuperate at home as she continues to work remotely.
Bharel, in a statement, said she was tested Thursday night and received her results back Friday.
“As the public health commissioner and an essential state employee, I have been vigilant about practicing social distancing from my colleagues and members of the public. My symptoms so far have been mild. I have notified my appropriate close contacts and will rest and recuperate at home, while continuing to carry out my work responsibilities remotely,” Bharel said in a statement.
The Department of Public Health said its offices, which are also headquarters for the coronavirus command center being led by Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders, will be “thoroughly cleaned over the weekend.”
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200327/dph-commissioner-positive-for-coronavirus