LYNN — Mayor Jared Nicholson will host his first public forum dedicated to COVID-19 on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
“COVID is a top-priority for us. It is an urgent public-health issue that is still ongoing,” said Nicholson. “We felt that it was a time when people in the community have a lot of questions, information is changing as the public-health situation changes and we wanted to create an opportunity for folks to come together and share their thoughts and their questions.”
This virtual community forum will provide residents with an update on state health and safety protocols, quarantine guidelines, opportunities to receive COVID-19 vaccines, availability of tests and other helpful information. Residents and business owners can use this opportunity to discuss their issues in relation to the ongoing pandemic.
“Addressing the pandemic really requires a group effort from everybody involved and local businesses are a big part of that,” Nicholson said. “Hearing from them is really important as we figure out how we can continue to work together to keep people safe.”
The forum is organized in partnership with Mass General Brigham-Salem Hospital, North Shore Physicians Group and Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC). The list of panelists includes Lynn Public Health Director Michele Desmarais, Salem Hospital Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Barbara Lambl, Salem Hospital/North Shore Physicians Group Physician and Medical Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Christine Valdes, LCHC Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Hanna Haptu and LCHC Physician Dr. Clark Van Den Berghe.
“I’d like to thank the public-health team as well as Salem Hospital and Lynn Community Health Center for working with us to put this together,” said Nicholson.
The forum will be broadcast on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. as a Zoom webinar and will include a live Spanish-translation option.
In addition to the community forum, Nicholson’s office invites Lynn’s residents and business owners to provide their input and feedback about their ongoing experience and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic via an online questionnaire, which will be used to help inform the discussion during the forum. The questionnaire can be found on Nicholson’s social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Alena Kuzub can be reached at [email protected].
