The Revere Board of Health held a brief (about 13 minutes), but productive meeting last Tuesday, December 7, in the City Council Chambers.
On hand were chairperson Dr. Nathalee Kong and fellow members Dr. Craig Costanza and Nezha Louaddi.
The meeting marked the final Board of Health meeting for Dr. Kong, who is stepping down from the board. Kong will be continuing in her role as Chief of Health and Human Services for the city, a position to which she was appointed by Mayor Brian Arrigo in August.
As the Chief of Health and Human Services, Dr. Kong is responsible for directly supporting eight city departments and commissions, including Elderly Services, the Department of Public Health, Community Health and Engagement, SUDI/ Homelessness, Veterans Services, Consumer Affairs, the Human Rights Commission, and the North Suffolk Public Health Collaborative.
She is responsible for managing more than 40 full-time and part- time employees and overseeing nearly $4 million dollars annually in revenues and expenses over all HHS departments.
Kong introduced her successor, Dr. Drew Bunker, who will become the Board of Health’s new chairperson effective in January.
Dr. Bunker is affiliated with Mass. General Hospital and is a primary care primary care physician with an office on Broadway, Revere.
Before getting into its agenda, the board heard the presentation of the monthly Communicable Disease Report from Lauren Buck, the city’s Director of Public Health.
Buck said that in the two-month period since the board’s last meeting in October, there have been 12 confirmed cases of influenza, four confirmed cases of Hepatitis C, and seven probable cases of Hepatitis C.
Buck also informed the board members of an alarming nationwide statistic. She said that 22 million infants missed their measles vaccinations in 2020, an increase from 19 million in 2019, the largest year-over-year increase of missed vaccinations in more than two decades.
Buck said that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely was responsible for the surge in missed vaccinations.
Buck then told the board members of the grim COVID-19 statistics for the City of Revere:
Thus far, 13,248 Revere residents have tested positive for the disease with 166 deaths being recorded.
She said that at the present time, the seven-day case average is 38.3 with a 14-day positivity rate of 5.0 percent. Buck noted that if the state still was using the metrics that were in place in the past year, Revere’s high positivity rate would place the city in the “red zone†category.
She also noted that Massachusetts is testing only 30 percent of its COVID cases, which likely means that the new Omicron variant is not being detected as readily as it might be if the state were testing a higher percentage of cases.
She reported that 81 percent of Revere residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine and 70 percent have received two doses.
However, in the 5-11 year-old age cohort, which represents seven percent of the city’s population, only 15 percent have received one dose and only one percent have received a second dose.
“This definitely is something to keep our eye on,†said Buck.
Kong reminded residents that all age groups now are eligible for boosters and that individuals can mix and match any vaccine. She said that vaccine clinics will be held throughout the month and that residents should check the city’s web site for locations and dates.
The board then moved on to its agenda item to finalize and sign the Regulations for the Keeping of Bees.
Buck made a presentation to the board in which she updated the members about some minor changes to the ordinance since the board first took up the matter in October.
The board then voted 3-0 to approve the ordinance. The formal paperwork was passed around to each member for their signatures to make it official.
Next on the agenda was a review of another aspect of the Urban Farming Ordinance pertaining to the Keeping of Chickens.
The purpose of this section of the Urban Farming Ordinance is to allow for residents to raise and keep chickens on their property.
Buck said that she still is working on the exact wording of the regulations, but she informed the board of the pertinent aspects of the ordinance: The keeper of the chickens must be a resident of the house where they are being kept; there is a limit of six hens per lot; no roosters are allowed; hen houses are subject to the city’s setback ordinances; and hen houses are not allowed in a front or side yard abutting a street.
It was noted that three concerns that will be addressed in the ordinance are pest control, odor, and noise.
Kong made a point of assuring residents that roosters will not be allowed.
The board will vote on the new regulations, once they are finalized, at its January meeting.
