COVID-19 Update Questions

1 OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Sumbul Siddiqui Mayor TO: LOUIS A. DEPASQUALE, CITY MANAGER FROM: SUMBUL SIDDIQUI, MAYOR SUBJECT: COVID-19 UPDATE: QUESTIONS DATE: 3.4.2021 CC: CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL A communication from Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, transmitting questions from City Councillors regarding the COVID-19 Public Health Update for March 8, 2021.

2 CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING: March 8, 2021 COVID-19 UPDATE QUESTIONS VICE MAYOR MALLON: 1. Based on the Governor's announcement this week moving school-based staff into eligibility, what is our local plan to vaccinate our school-based staff here in Cambridge? The State vaccination website is impossible to navigate, and CVS is fully booked each day. CPSD welcomed 4-12th graders back into the classroom this week, and it's important to get this done quickly and in a coordinated fashion to both provide a level of safety for our staff, as well as instill confidence for families that school is safe to return to. COUNCILLOR NOLAN: 1. Do we have a sense of how the increased capacity for businesses and movement to Phase 3 step 2 has gone? And in line with that question, what has our capacity been to monitor for compliance with mask mandates and provide support for entities that need help opening, re-opening, or expanding while following all the continued regulations about safe operations? 2. With increased vaccine eligibility and ever-changing availability of supply, there has been a lot of concern from residents about accessing an appointment for vaccination. What has been done, and what can the city do to communicate in a timely manner how and when residents can sign up for vaccines? Do we know which of the methods of communication the city uses are the most effective, and are there other methods other cities are using that we might emulate? MAYOR SIDDIQUI: 1. Can CPH share any more updated race/ethnicity data of who has been vaccinated? COUNCILLOR SIMMONS: 1. When the Senior Center re-opens to the public for in-person activities, will people need to show a "vaccine passport" or some proof of having been vaccinated in order to enter and partake of the in- person activities? COUNCILLOR SOBRINHO-WHEELER: 1. Now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been authorized, when can we expect to start seeing doses in Massachusetts? What do residents need to know about which of the vaccines they’re getting?

3 2. New daily COVID cases in Cambridge have come down from the numbers we were seeing in December, but they are still 3-4 times higher than they were from June-October. What do we know about how Cambridge residents are currently contracting the virus? For what percentage of the cases are we able to identify a likely point of transmission? COUNCILLOR TOOMEY: 1. A lifelong Cambridge resident and senior citizen contacted me to express her concerns about the difficulty of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The City of Quincy has a dedicated local vaccination site at their senior center; does Cambridge plan to set up a similar central site? COUNCILLOR ZONDERVAN: 1. Currently our 7-day average of new cases of COVID seems to have stabilized at about 4 times what it was in late March 2020 when we declared a public health emergency and shut down the entire city to prevent the spread of COVID. Several more infectious variants of COVID are circulating worldwide, including here in Massachusetts, raising the risk of a 4th surge driven by these new variants. Vaccine distribution in the city has been spotty and concerns of racial and economic inequities in terms of access to the vaccine have not been sufficiently addressed. Black and Brown community members in Cambridge are contracting COVID at rates at least 3 times higher than whites and are dying at rates 1.5 times higher than whites. I’m hearing from concerned members of the community about their relatives dying and the city’s failure to protect them. What is the scientific basis for reopening the city now to the degree that we are, including the complete lifting of indoor dining capacity limits and soon the opening of large venues, when our new case counts are stabilizing at such dangerously high levels, the risk of a 4th surge driven by variants is so great, and our Black and Brown community members remain disproportionately exposed? 2. More than 1 year into this devastating pandemic, the city has repeatedly refused to adopt a housing for all approach, despite the availability of federal funding to reimburse 100% of the costs of providing non-congregate shelter. What is the justification for this inhumane approach that leaves unhoused people vulnerable to the winter weather, COVID exposure, and the enormous stresses and mental health challenges of living on the streets? 3. Outdoor dining was a lifeline for many of our small businesses in 2020, can we get an update on when it will come back and in what form? How will we ensure that there is even better outreach to minority and women-owned businesses during the 2021 season? In particular, how can we bring the successes of Inman Square’s approach (which included partial lane closures) to other neighborhoods that would benefit from such a dramatic intervention? 4. Additional open space created through Memorial Drive closures and the Shared Streets program was a lifeline for many residents in 2020. When will Memorial Drive closures begin in 2021, and is the city supportive of expanding them beyond the weekend? How can we learn from the successes and challenges of the Shared Streets program to ensure all residents have access to legitimate recreation space, including and especially residents of the Port, Wellington-Harrington, and East Cambridge?