Open Letter to Governor Baker from Jerry Halberstadt (Coordinator of the Stop Bullying Coalition and Michael Siegel (Professor of Public Health at Boston University)

8 December, 2020

Contact: Jerry Halberstadt

978.310.9739 Jerry@StopBullyingCoalition.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jerry Halberstadt, Coordinator of theStop Bullying Coalition today and Michael Siegel, the public health advisor to the Coalition and a Professor of Community Public Health at Boston University together posted an open letter to Governor Charles C. Baker and challenged him to take action to curtail non-essential gatherings that contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

They urged him to work with Monica Bharel, the Commissioner of Public Health, to actively enforce mandates that protect elderly and disabled tenants in multi-unit, public and subsidized housing. See: https://stopbullyingcoalition.org/

Siegel said, “I call on the governor to shut down restaurants, gyms, and casinos and to institute appropriate measures to protect residents of multi-unit housing.”

In a related development on December 4, 2020, Halberstadt and Siegel were joined by Michael Kane and other community and tenant leaders in an appeal to Monica Bharel, Commissioner of Public Health. They asked Bharel to implement state and local level oversight and enforcement of COVID-19 mandates in multi-unit housing for the elderly and disabled. They also seek the publication of site-specific data about COVID-19 infections using already available data. See: https://stopbullyingcoalition.org/bharel

Halberstadt said, “Our Coalition partners with tenants and landlords to assure that they follow effective mitigation protocols. Unfortunately, some tenants and landlords fail to comply. Public health officials must enforce the essential procedures that can assure compliance and reduce the threat.”

The Stop Bullying Coalition works on behalf of 92,000 tenants in 1,400 facilities for elderly and disabled to mitigate COVID-19 in multi-unit housing such as subsidized and public housing for the elderly and disabled. Governor Baker appointed Halberstadt to serve as Commissioner to represent the Coalition on the Commission on Bullying.

Additional resources and information at:
https://StopBullyingCoalition.org

-- 
Jerry Halberstadt
Coordinator, Stop Bullying Coalition
email: Jerry@StopBullyingCoalition.org
StopBullyingCoalition.org
978.310.9739

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