By Joe Creason

On Thursday January 21, the city’s Board of Health conducted a virtual meeting in accordance with Governor Baker’s executive orders, which adjusted certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law during the initial phase of the pandemic.

The City of Somerville’s Board of Health meeting was led by the Director of Health and Human Services, Doug Kress.

Kress gave a comprehensive presentation on Covid-19, reporting the current developments of the disease with global, national and local data. Kress also gave an update on how the City Health Department is making progress in the face of the pandemic crisis.

“Somerville was able to start the vaccination process on January 11. Police officers, court officers, ambulance drivers, hospital staff and Tufts staff received the vaccine,” Kress said, “vaccines were sent to the shelters to be administered to the staff and to those seeking refuge so that we protect the vulnerable and underprivileged members of our society and prevent the spread of disease”

Another round of doses will be given to healthcare aids, public works, restaurant workers, at risk community members and small healthcare providers once state guidelines have been met, says Kress. According to the health Director, Somerville is working on a new vaccine webpage so that people know when and where they can get vaccinated. The website will register those who get their first vaccine dose and ensure that they get their second dose by emailing them a scheduled reminder.

The pandemic brings a set of obvious and particular challenges to the greater Boston area. Even though some may point to the influx of out-of-state students as a serious transmission risk and burden on an already strained healthcare system, data from the State department of public health paints a different picture.

As of January 14, the percent positivity for all of Massachusetts was 6.7%. The percent positivity for Massachusetts excluding the population from higher education institutions, rises to 7.9%. The percent positivity for higher education on its own is only 0.5%.

Statistics in the state on positive cases have been trending upwards as the winter progresses.

The number of total confirmed cases in Massachusetts has jumped from 352,558 on December 30, to 433,299 as of January 14. That is a near 23% increase of confirmed cases in just 15 days across the state.

While Somerville is faring better than some communities in the greater Boston area, Covid-19 is still a pervasive health crisis and there is much work left to be done. The city has a daily incidence rate averaging about 58 new cases per population of 100,000 over the last 14 days, compared with a daily incidence rate of about 33 in both Cambridge and Arlington.

Though there has been a sustained rate of confirmed cases and infection in Somerville, the city has put great efforts towards testing. From December 26 to January 9, 15,876 tests were conducted. By January 14, Somerville had conducted 276,210 tests.

As of January 19, Somerville has 3,957 positive confirmed cases and 55 fatalities.