State Sen. Will Brownsberger
The following piece was written by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston. When we begin to reopen, whenever that occurs, we will all need to accept continued personal responsibility for controlling the spread of COVID-19.
Governor Baker faces difficult judgment calls about the pacing of reopening. Without expressing an opinion on the particulars of his judgment calls, he is taking fundamentally the right approach – namely, an incremental and data-driven approach.
For all the reasons that we had to shut down, the potential consequences of re-opening too fast are unacceptable. Given the risk of a catastrophic second surge, the only safe way to proceed is incrementally. We will want to open in phases and evaluate the disease statistics daily for any early indication of an upswing.
As we slowly reopen while the virus is still at large in the community, it will be more important than ever to do the basic things that all the public health professionals tell us will reduce the rate of transmission: Wear masks, don’t touch our faces, wash our hands frequently and especially after making contact with high touch surfaces, stay home when we feel sick, work from home whenever we can, maintain physical distance from each other.
Some businesses and employers will need to change their operations to support more distancing. If the conclusion is that people have to come in, can they come in on some kind of shift system? Does everyone need to come together at the same time?
The Governor bears primary responsibility for pacing the reopening, but it will be on all of us to take the personal precautions that will make the reopening work. People managing the work of others will bear special responsibility for protecting their employees. Customer-facing business managers will bear special responsibility for protecting their customers.
