questions for the City Manager's COVID-19 update

1 OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Sumbul Siddiqui Mayor TO: LOUIS A. DEPASQUALE, CITY MANAGER FROM: SUMBUL SIDDIQUI, MAYOR SUBJECT: COVID-19 UPDATE: QUESTIONS DATE: 3.18.2021 CC: CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL A communication from Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, transmitting questions from City Councillors regarding the COVID-19 Public Health Update for March 22, 2021.

2 CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING: March 22, 2021 COVID-19 UPDATE QUESTIONS COUNCILLOR MALLON: 1. Parents are wondering what the DHSP plans are for a "Spring on the Fields" program as well as plans for IN PERSON summer camps and programming. Will DHSP be offering an outdoor afterschool activity program like they did in the Fall and if/when will they be announcing in-person summer programming plans. 2. Can you please provide an update on when the Cambridge public libraries will be open for browsing. The libraries have been closed for over a year for in-person browsing, and bookstores have remained open safely with state mandated capacity limits. This has created an inequity in who in our community can access new reading materials. As we continue to move toward an opening of other departments to the public, a plan with an opening date needs to be announced for this critical resource for our residents, especially our youngest readers. COUNCILLOR NOLAN 1. What is the current thinking on extending outdoor places in our streets and how will we include the community in discussions of whether the current parking spots and sidewalks being used will continue throughout the pandemic and beyond. 2. What do we know about a schedule for summer programs for all city sponsored programs, for adults and youth and children? MAYOR SIDDIQUI: 1. The federal government recently announced that they released vaccine equity funding to increase trust, vaccine acceptance and administration for the 20 equity municipalities– how is CPHD referencing these strategies for our continued local efforts for vaccine equity (even if we aren’t among those 20 municipalities)? 2. After Cambridge Court Apartments, what is the next building to receive on-site vaccination? 808-812 Memorial Drive, 402 Rindge have a number of CHA voucher households with elderly residents. COUNCILLOR SOBRINHO-WHEELER 1. Now that the Metro North Regional Vaccine Partnership sites have been announced in Somerville, what is the City doing to publicize the launch dates to Cambridge residents and ensure that residents can access the appointments?

3 COUNCILLOR TOOMEY: 1. Have Cambridge residents outwardly expressed specific concerns or hesitations around any of the available COVID-19 vaccines? COUNCILLOR ZONDERVAN 1. Many scholars living in the Port, including in public housing buildings like Washington Elms and Newtowne Court, have relied on the 68 bus to get to CRLS each morning. The MBTA recently cut the 68 route as part of its “Forging Ahead” service cuts. How has the city worked with the MBTA to ensure impacted scholars can still get to school on time? Has there been any direct communication between the city and the impacted scholars? While the MBTA has made some accommodations in the afternoon, has the city asked them to run a single route of the 68 bus in the morning so that those scholars can easily make it to CRLS? 2. 120 residents currently relying on the CASCAP Representative Payee program to obtain their social security benefits each month will lose access to their money when the program ends at the end of April 2021. Just 20 of those residents will be able to access the same services through BayCove. The $800-$900 that folks have been collecting each month from Social Security has been a lifeline during this historic pandemic, so it is important that we prevent a coverage gap. However, it can take up to six weeks to change somebody’s Representative Payee, and that’s assuming an alternative provider is even available. Time is running out. What is the city’s plan to ensure homeless residents in Cambridge do not lose access to their Social Security benefits when they are already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic? 3. On March 18, 2021, Governor Baker announced that Massachusetts will reopen to Phase IV, Step 1. This means, among other things, that large capacity sports and entertainment venues will be permitted to operate at 12% capacity, gathering limits for event venues and in public settings will increase to 100 people indoors and 150 people outdoors, and that dance floors will be permitted at weddings and other events. This level of re-opening conflicts directly with the advice from national experts, as well as our own Expert Advisory Panel, and puts our community at grave risk of a COVID resurgence given the presence of new rapidly spreading variants, reduced testing capacity, and the nascent stage of the vaccine rollout. Will Cambridge re-open to Phase IV, Step 1 on Monday, and if so, what venues would be allowed to open in Cambridge that aren’t currently operating, and at what capacity? How will we protect our most vulnerable residents who continue to bear the brunt of this pandemic, including our low-income and Black and Brown communities?