Mayor awaits word on vaccine distribution

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WOONSOCKET – News a COVID-19 vaccine is on the way comes as a welcome development, but also one that won’t stop the city’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic’s local impacts, according to Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.

With Woonsocket among R.I. communities hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak since last March, Baldelli-Hunt said the city will continue to follow all of the state’s pandemic safety protocols even as it awaits the actual arrival and distribution of the vaccine in the days and weeks ahead.

Baldelli-Hunt said she was awaiting more information from Fire Chief Paul Shatraw on how city firefighters and police will be getting the vaccinations initially and then other groups in the city as the state’s vaccine distribution plan unfolds.

“The fire chief as I have said from the beginning has been the point person from the public safety standpoint,” Baldelli-Hunt said.

“And there are a lot of protocols that have been put in place and there are reasons they have been put in place, several things – first and foremost we are trying to keep people healthy,” Baldelli-Hunt said.

Two city employees – a member of the water department and a secretary at the middle school – have died of COVID-19 during the crisis, and that only emphasizes the need to continue to follow all the safety protocols that have been put in place to fight the virus, according to Baldelli-Hunt.

The mayor said the city has been trying to keep its employees “in a work environment that is as safe as possible and we’re also trying to keep the wheels of government moving.”

“And we have been doing this since March, I’m very grateful to the work that Chief Shatraw has done and we’ve had a strong partnership with Landmark, we’re working in conjunction with nursing homes, we have been focused on the pandemic since the onset,” Baldelli-Hunt said.

During the crisis, mayors and town administrators have stayed in close contact with each other and the various departments of the state through conference calls and connections through the R.I. League of Cities and Towns, Baldelli-Hunt noted.

“We work closely with them because different municipalities share best practices,” Baldelli-Hunt said of the League.

“We’ve put safety measures in place to help the employees within City Hall and this is what we have been doing. And we are nearing the end of the year and we’ve been able to make it through this terrible time,” Baldelli-Hunt said.

Now that the vaccine is finally being shipped out across the country, Baldelli-Hunt said it remains to be seen when people in her own community will be able to access the preventative treatment.

“First and foremost you need to stay healthy in order to do the necessary work that needs to take place during COVID and you need to keep government in motion because that is what we are here for,” Baldelli-Hunt said.

The mayor also pointed to the “human aspect” of crisis, and what people have been going through locally whether that is seniors who can’t go out to get their prescriptions or to the grocery store, or family members who have been unable to visit their loved ones in nursing homes and health care facilities, and also the residents who have lost their jobs and are looking for work.

“There is a lot more than potentially meets the eye which falls under the responsibility of municipalities,” she said.

With everything still “fluid” as to exactly when and how the vaccine will be distributed locally, Baldelli-Hunt could only offer that it is coming as a hopeful forecast for the days ahead.

“We need to protect our healthcare workers and public safety officials and we need to also protect our city staff to keep government moving,” she said.

“There are lot of people who are compromised who need it, and there are only so many vaccines and that is why the distribution is so detailed, the mayor noted.

“Let’s see how many we are receiving and let see where the distribution is going,” Baldelli-Hunt said.