• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Business index
  • Contribute
  • Wellesley Square
  • Private schools
  • Camp
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Kids
  • About us
  • Events
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Live government meetings
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Wellesley COVID-19 update: Masks all around; trickle of newly vaccinated; speak up self-testers

August 23, 2021 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Wellesley’s Board of Health this week is firming up its support for organizations from the School Department and School Committee to the Council on Aging, as they seek to require mask use in light of rising concerns over the Delta variant of COVID-19.

The Board of Health recommended during its meeting on Monday that the schools start the year with everyone masked, and expect the state to issue such rules anyway on Tuesday morning. While the timing is tricky, the School Committee sought the Board of Health’s guidance in advance of its own Tuesday night meeting, which takes place about a week before the new school year begins. A likely scenario is that the schools could reassess the full mask mandate come October based on how things are going.

The Board of Health navigated the intricacies of advisories vs. mandates vs. orders as it discussed a request from the Council on Aging (COA) for a mask mandate, though the Board is trying to pin down whether the Council might already qualify for a mandate through a state rule applying to congregate care facilities that share functions offered by the COA at the Tolles Parsons Center.

The COA would also like to issue a vaccination mandate for employees and patrons, though legal and human resources requirements remain to be studied on that front. Despite having a good ventilation system at the Tolles Parsons Center and taking other precautions, the COA’s clientele is a highly COVID-vulnerable population, emphasized COA Board Chair Marlene Allen.

Wellesley is looking to issue a strong advisory for the public and public facing town employees to wear masks while in town buildings, and discussed at the Board of Health meeting the possibility of a mask mandate for town employees. Union and legal issues would need to be hashed out on that front first.

The Board of Health has a date on Thursday with the Select Board to discuss and vote on an indoor mask mandate for town buildings.


Trickle of newly vaccinated

The share of Wellesley’s overall population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 remains at 66% and the percentage of those eligible who have been fully vaxxed remain at 77% over the past week.

Fewer than 100 additional residents have become fully vaccinated over the past week,  according to weekly data released by the state.

wellesley covid stats aug 19


Speak up self-testers

Wellesley’s Health Department says the town is averaging 1 or 2 cases a day, with no major trends among those infected. Though the department is getting concerned about keeping a read on the situation in light of increased use of home tests and more difficulty finding public places nearby to get tested.

The Health Department is urging members of the public who are using self-tests to reach out to the town and their doctors with results if they test positive.

The town wants to make sure people are taking the right steps to stop the spread of the virus.


  • Subscribe to Swellesley’s daily email
  • Please consider contributing to Swellesley to sustain our independent journalism venture
print
Share

Filed Under: COVID-19, Education, Health

Comments

  1. Tom C. says

    August 25, 2021 at 10:12 am

    Thank you for the important and ongoing reporting by Swellesley Report on Covid statistics disaggregated by age group in Town. Hopefully this data will encourage all residents to vaccinate. In fact, I am using the trends indicated in this data as justification to dear friends to encourage their vaccination. With that said, may I ask that you review your presentation of the 50-64 age group. Your stats state the total population of that age group is 5,510 and that 5,575 have been vaccinated (partially or fully). That doesn’t make sense. This is an error of data presentation that has been repeated over several weeks of your reporting. As the statistics for the Town get more granular as more are vaccinated, I hope that your presentation can be more accurate for the age group I have referenced above.

    Reply
    • Bob Brown says

      August 25, 2021 at 11:15 am

      Hi Tom, thanks for your thoughts and for pointing out that error. The chart we run is taken directly from the state’s spreadsheet, so will have to. figure out if there’s a way to get them to fix it…you’re right that it doesn’t make sense. Bob

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.

Linden Square, Wellesley
Wonderful Wellesley

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

 

Advertisements

Wellesley Square
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Cheesy Street Grill
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Admit Fit, Wellesley
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Most Read Posts

  • Congrats to all those sweaty, determined Pan-Mass Challenge riders
  • An hour in a Wellesley garden—a visit to Little Red
  • Wellesley arts news: Davis Museum previews fall exhibits; Abstract art welcomes you to the library
  • Upcoming political debates & forums
  • Wellesley readies for Pan-Mass Challenge 2022

Upcoming Events

Aug 11
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Wellesley Neighbors, Open Lunch

Aug 11
1:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Style in the Golden Years

Aug 12
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Fay School admission information session

Aug 12
1:00 pm

Bach to Rock free instrument petting zoo

Aug 15
1:00 pm

Wellesley Neighbors, Open Lunch

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • Ellen S on The Underrated Cure: Gardening’s Effect on Mental Health
  • Mary Ann on First taste: Wellesley Square’s new Lockheart Restaurant
  • Mary Ann on First taste: Wellesley Square’s new Lockheart Restaurant
  • Michael Maggard WHS '85 on In remembrance: Martha ‘Martie” Cherry Fiske, award-winning Wellesley teacher who fought for job rights
  • Katherine Fellows on Wellesley outdoor watering restrictions to come with a bit of ‘enforcement’

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • Animals (418)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (581)
  • Beyond Wellesley (49)
  • Books (368)
  • Business (1,514)
  • Camp (11)
  • Careers/jobs (49)
  • Churches (81)
  • Clubs (229)
  • Construction (296)
  • Dump (127)
  • Education (3,124)
    • Babson College (251)
    • Bates Elementary School (16)
    • Dana Hall School (34)
    • Fiske Elementary School (9)
    • Hardy Elementary School (44)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (43)
    • MassBay (55)
    • Schofield Elementary School (24)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (610)
    • Wellesley High School (969)
    • Wellesley Middle School (204)
  • Embracing diversity (70)
  • Entertainment (792)
  • Environment (754)
  • Fashion (141)
  • Finance (14)
  • Fire (164)
  • Food (347)
  • Fundraising (615)
  • Gardens (160)
  • Government (565)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (14)
  • Health (853)
    • COVID-19 (200)
  • Hikes (4)
  • History (389)
  • Holidays (406)
  • Houses (157)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (854)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (6)
  • Letters to the Editor (63)
  • Media (70)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (11)
  • Morses Pond (108)
  • Music (571)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (273)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (76)
  • Outdoors (643)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (757)
    • Crime (386)
  • Politics (551)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (6)
  • Real estate (334)
  • Religion (132)
  • Restaurants (335)
  • Safety (151)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (123)
  • Shopping (148)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (986)
    • Athlete of the Week (6)
  • STEM (107)
  • Technology (164)
  • Theatre (395)
  • Town Meeting (23)
  • Transportation (232)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,231)
  • Volunteering (347)
  • Weather (178)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (277)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (19)
Deland, Gibson Insurance, Wellesley

© 2022 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login