NORTHAMPTON — A proposal to require everyone 5 and older to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 before entering restaurants, gyms and other indoor businesses throughout the city will again be considered Thursday by the Board of Health.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 3, but it was canceled because, under Open Meeting Law requirements, city officials did not publicly post the agenda in time. The new date for the virtual meeting is Jan. 13 at 5:30 p.m. and a vote on the vaccine passport plan is possible.
Board of Health member Laurent Levy issued a public statement on Facebook over the weekend, sharing his own views and not those of the board. He wrote that in addition to listening to three hours of public comment at the Dec. 28 board meeting, he has so far read most of the 300 pages of written testimony that were submitted.
“My role as a Board member is: to listen; to use good science; to keep my own biases in check; to NOT make decisions based on ideology; to recognize that we don’t have all the answers and that these answers can change over time; to be pragmatic,” Levy wrote. “Insults, threats, and prejudice are counterproductive.”
Speaking to the Gazette, Levy said he was “annoyed” by misinformation about the vaccine passport and his fellow Board of Health members, including the idea that the four appointed volunteers are “politicians.” He said members, and Public Health Director Merridith O’Leary, are “reasonable” and that the outcome of the vote is not a foregone conclusion.
During the Dec. 28 meeting, a man who identified himself as David Rosenberg criticized the vaccine passport proposal and called board members “unelected, rich, Jewish doctors.” Another person using the name “JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US” displayed three swastikas in their Zoom meeting photo.
Northampton activist Amy Bookbinder told the Gazette she was “disturbed” by the rhetoric and swastikas. She shared a letter that she had written to the board, thanking them for the proposed mandate and encouraging them to pass it regardless of the bigoted criticism.
“I was appalled and frightened, as a Jew, by the anti-semitism heard and seen (in the Nazi zoom picture) in many of the meeting comments,” Bookbinder wrote to the board. “I hope the intimidation and fear-mongering employed does not deter you from staying strong behind passing the mandate to help keep us all as safe as possible.”
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra issued a statement last week condemning the antisemitic comments and imagery, calling on others to “speak up against the words and actions of those who sow hatred toward any group.”
A handful of anti-mandate protesters gathered outside City Hall on Saturday afternoon, displaying signs like “Informed consent, not coercion” and “Freedom: No vaccine mandate.” A MoveOn.org petition in favor of the vaccine plan had 424 signatures on Sunday.
The city Health Department’s draft vaccination order applies to everyone 5 and older, including workers at the covered businesses, and defines full vaccination as both shots in a two-shot series — or one shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccine — plus a booster shot if eligible. Anyone 18 and older would have to show ID in addition to their vaccination record.
The businesses that would have to abide by the order would include all indoor dining establishments, bars, nightclubs, catering halls, hotel banquet rooms, gyms and fitness centers, dance and yoga/Pilates studios, concert venues, museums, bowling alleys, adult entertainment locations, arcades and pools, among others.
“Some people need that reassurance” of a business requiring vaccinations for customers, Levy said. “I’m not going to make a decision based on reassuring people. I can only make a decision based on, this is good science and this will save lives. I still haven’t made up my mind.”
The vaccination requirement at The Roost cafe on Market Street, Levy said, is a “very good model” because customers are allowed to place an order before staff checks their vaccination status. Those who are vaccinated can stay in the restaurant while those who are unvaccinated must take their orders to-go.
“I found this to be a great system, and I hope some places can put something in place like this,” Levy said. “There’s an opportunity for choice and I’d love to see that in town.”
The Northampton Health Department reported on Friday that more than 20% of all COVID cases in the city since the start of the pandemic — 537 out of a total of 2,488 — were identified in the two-week period between Dec. 23 and Jan. 5. The city has reported 108 deaths from COVID-19.
Last week, the city averaged about 100 new positive tests every day, while about 78% of the city’s population is fully vaccinated.
“When we look at these trends, it is important to emphasize that we are seeing reporting delays due to limited access to testing and increased result turnaround times,” the department wrote in a public statement, “and that this count also does not include positive self-tests performed at home, which we know there are many. Therefore, new case data is likely an undercount of what is truly occurring.”
The Health Department urges full vaccination and booster shots for all who are eligible and wrote that well-fitting, surgical KN95 or N95 masks should be worn in public “and around others who you do not live with.” Other measures to prevent infection and spread include increased indoor ventilation, thorough and frequent hand-washing, and staying home and testing for COVID-19 when sick.
“Very early data has suggested that the Omicron variant may cause milder illness compared to the previous variants of the virus,” the department wrote, “(but) this variant and other variants of COVID-19 can still cause severe illness, hospitalization, death, and lasting disability,” especially in those who are more susceptible to the virus due to age or underlying health conditions.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.