Special Board of Aldermen 12-21-2020 Page 11
This proposed short-term emergency ordinance was one such example of us trying to do our best to
preserve and protect the health and wellbeing of the citizens in Nashua. Short and sweet. And | had
some data that | will share later that everyone knows with the Aldermen, but locally our numbers reflect
the same scary statistics and other members of the Department who might be on-line tonight might be
able to direct their attention to that. But this virus, like all viruses, doesn’t pay attention to the rules or
stop signs. The train has left the station. And again, it is a short-term emergency measure to see if we
can try to decrease the rate of viral infectivity soread and lessen the speed that the COVID virus gathers
each and every day on its path to increasing morbidity, illness and mortality death.
It has never been nor will be the activity of the Board of Health to attempt to interfere with and to
purposely disrupt or disregard the heroic efforts put forth by all of you in your wonderful comments
tonight of the hardworking Nashua business leaders with regards to trying to come to grips with the best
way to control, combat this deadly virus. | am daily amazed by all your efforts and | thank you in
advance. For those asking for evidence around show me the science and the data, | heard that tonight,
you are right, we have limited if any data at the present time to outline how these curfews could work or
what we want them to do. But when, not if, we climb out of this scary hole we find ourselves in, those
smarter than me may be able to look at this and see if these actions that we are proposing make any
difference.
There are a few other points. Am | hopeful that by implementing the curfew the virus will suddenly shrink
away and run for the hills? Of course not. But for me the act of medically doing nothing is just not an
option. What we do know relative to this ordinance are four key prevention methods that have been
shown to be effective and universally accepted and all of you on line have worked hard to maintain
these and they are indisputable in their 24/7 attempt to combat this; social distancing of 6 feet or more,
wearing appropriate face mask, hand washing and proper ventilation methods. And specifically tonight |
wanted to address the question about why does it appear that restaurants, bars and other
establishments that serve food and drink seem to be the sole focus of this ordinance, versus the big box
stores who have more people perhaps going through them than these apparent (inaudible).
Unidentified Speaker Over time.
President Wilshire
No that was another audience member who should not have spoken up, | apologize for the interruption.
Charles Cappetta Oh no, sorry, | included a Boston Globe link that came out to start to address this
because the science is coming, it isn’t here yet. But the answer to the question about why is this
restaurant or other activity locations, our starting point is simple. One, people take their masks off to eat
and drink and it is this activity that leads to a higher spread of virus infectivity potential. Two, alcohol
decreases inhibitions and potential for louder talking, shouting across the tables and therefore more
spread. And it is a fact that we now know that aerosolized droplets from just speaking or talking can
travel up to 3 to 9 feet. Three, physical barriers on tables between patrons do not stop the spread of the
virus when the mask is off but often simply act like a fly swatter where the virus can hit the wall and be
pushed off in different directions depending on the make up of the barrier, aka, plexiglass, wood, plastic.
Four, barriers are hard to clean and though they maybe look clean to the naked eye are not sterile for
the next patron despite the best attempt to clean them between sittings and through no fault of all the
wonderful staff members who attempt to clean them, viruses can be very resistant to being decimated.
And lastly, most importantly, people are congregating in these establishments in tight spaces, even
though upholding the 6 feet of social distancing for an extended period of time, up to 90 minutes in
some locations, situated next to other patrons who are not usually in the same person bubble space as
themselves or their family members at home, versus the stream of people with masks walking with
usually limited respiratory contact through the aisles of the big box stores or grocery stores. And from
the beginning our Public Health Department has been effusive to all the businesses that have played by
the rules.
