Mayor Fuller To Lift COVID-19 State of Emergency

By Connor Siemien Newton Editor

The City of Newton’s COVID-19 state of emergency will end on May 11, according to an announcement from Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller in her newsletter on Monday.

“This decision comes at a time of hope, recovery and progress in public health,” Fuller’s newsletter reads. “While COVID-19 continues to circulate, we now have many ways to manage the virus. This includes vaccines and boosters, treatments and therapies, testing and masking, and support for staying home when ill.”

Along with lifting the state of emergency, Fuller announced that the vaccine requirement for city employees is also expiring, effective immediately.

Fuller initially announced the state of emergency on March 17, 2020, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first Newton resident tested positive for COVID-19 on March 9, 2020, just a week prior to the announcement of the state of emergency.

The city experienced three spikes of the virus during the state of emergency—one in the initial months of the pandemic and two during the turn of the new year in 2021 and 2022, according to the city’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Over time, the city lessened its COVID-19 restrictions, including lifting the indoor mask mandate for public spaces on Feb. 18, 2022.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorized Newton as a low-risk area for COVID-19 in March 2022.

A gradual reduction of COVID-19 restrictions in the city and around the country track with the trends of the pandemic, according to Matthew Leibowitz, chief of infectious diseases at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

“We are in a different phase of the pandemic now,” Leibowitz said. “Much of daily life has returned to normal interactions, including work, school, shopping, travel, dining, entertainment and personal interactions.”

He said that the lifting of the public health emergency is more impactful on practices within hospitals, but reflective of the public sentiment regarding COVID-19.

Major changes as a result of the decision to lift the public health emergency will be gaps in financial coverage for COVID-19 tests and vaccines by insurance payers, he said.

Uncertainty regarding future outbreaks of the virus remains a major issue in hospitals despite the emergence of vaccines, according to Leibowitz.

“We are likely to continue to see ongoing transmission that may establish more of a seasonal pattern, but there is much uncertainty about this,” he said. “New variants that escape individual and population immunity may yet have further serious impacts, especially on more medically vulnerable people.”

Leibowitz said that there is still hope among medical professionals that vaccines will render the virus less dangerous, as long as people adhere to the most recent medical advice.

“Hopefully, at some time in the future, it will be a much more mild illness, similar to other ‘cold’ viruses,” Leibowitz said. “The development of new and more effective vaccines may have a major impact on the future of COVID, as long as people are willing to be immunized.”

Fuller’s newsletter expanded on Leibowitz’s hope, noting that lifting the state of emergency is a gesture that signals brighter days for the city.

“As blossoms and daffodils emerge in the spring of 2023, I remember the dark shadow of the pandemic,” the newsletter reads. “I thank the employees of the City and Newton Public Schools for helping so many endure so much. I am grateful that we can now lift the Emergency Declaration.” n

Auchincloss Hosts Roundtable for Newton Residents

By Shruthi Sriram Assoc. Newton Editor

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who represents Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District, hosted a virtual roundtable with Newton residents on Tuesday.

Auchincloss began the session by speaking about some of the congressional bills he has been involved in passing, including a climate action and clean energy bill and a bipartisan gun safety reform bill.

“My first term in office was like aging in dog years in Washington, certainly I feel like I learned a lot,” Auchincloss said. “I was able to participate as your voice and vote in so much historic legislation.”

Internationally, Auchincloss said he hopes to continue to provide strong support for Ukraine and chart a long term path for U.S. competition with the Chinese Communist Party.

“I’m a member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the Chinese Communist Party and the United States,” Auchincloss said. “We really try to think longterm strategy on how this defining ideological contest in the 21st century can be to the benefit of the American people and to people the world over who seek freedom and democracy.”

Newton resident Fred Gross asked

Auchincloss how he plans to bridge the steep partisan divide in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“I am one of the most proactive Democrats in the House and I think my colleagues would support me on this, in literally crossing over the aisle to spend time with Republicans,” Auchincloss said.

He said this tactic helps him to build relationships in Congress, which allows him to serve his constituents more efficiently.

“I spend a huge amount of time just walking across the aisle, sometimes for very specific policy things for very specific people, but sometimes just to sit next to a Republican and ask them questions about their districts, or how they got to that job, because the currency of effectiveness in my role is relationships,” Auchincloss said.

David Backer, a Newton resident, asked Auchincloss how he hopes to work against colleagues who oppose offshore wind development, such as Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who represents the 2nd Congressional District in New Jersey.

“He is such a headache,” Auchincloss said. “I am on a subcommittee with him, and I don’t know if an offshore wind turbine scared him as a kid or something but he hates offshore wind. We have a long roster of scientific evidence refuting the bogus claims he’s putting forward about the degradation that offshore wind turbines impose on marine ecosystems and I’m absolutely fit and fighting.”

Karen Sherman, a social worker who does school-based counseling at Boston Public Schools for the last four years, asked what can be done to increase mental health resources for students as a result of increasing gun safety issues.

Auchincloss said this is a topic that is discussed at every roundtable he does, and he discussed the funding coming out of the American Rescue Plan as well as increasing remote mental health services as possible solutions.

Tony Broh, a Brookline resident, asked Auchincloss about his pro-Israel stances, and how he hopes to stand up against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent political stances that endanger democracy.

“I think that an independent judiciary is critical for the health of a democracy, and while it’s within Israel’s right as a self-governing entity to choose its own laws, anything that takes it away from an independent judiciary would be to me something that would undermine our shared democratic ideals,” Auchin- closs said.

At the local level, Auchincloss said he is working with Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller on fully upgrading the Newton commuter rail stations in West Newton, Auburndale, and Newtonville.

“I feel very strongly that those stations are not worthy of the city of Newton, or of the people who use them,” Auchincloss said. “They are not accessible, and they do not support either the housing that we want and are planning to build around the area, nor do they support the regional rail transportation network that the state envisions.” n