NAHANT — With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to change life as we knew it, the town is hoping that residents are utilizing all of the resources available.
The town is making residents aware of how to obtain free, rapid COVID-19 tests, along with the ability to access a digital vaccine card.
On Jan. 18, the United States Postal Service announced it will be shipping four free rapid tests to each U.S. household that signs up for the service, and all you need is your name and residential address to place an order.
Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced last week that residents could access their COVID-19 vaccination card digitally through the new tool, My Vax Records. The COVID-19 digital vaccine cards produced by the system utilize the SMART Health Card platform and generate a QR code that can be used to verify vaccination.
“While there aren’t any vaccine mandates in the town of Nahant, our residents travel outside of Nahant for many different reasons, whether it be going to events, restaurants, shopping or any type of public space that may be in a town that does require a vaccine in order to enter,” said Town Administrator Antonio Barletta.
Nahant recently put in place a mask mandate and Barletta stated that there have been no issues regarding mask wearing.
“Even though we just put a mask mandate in place, we were strongly encouraging residents to wear masks indoors,” Barletta said, “and a lot of people were doing it on their own.”
With the town having a relatively low case count and high vaccination rate, Barletta credits the town’s effort into educating the public about COVID-19 as the reason for the town’s relative success throughout the pandemic.
“Any information related to the importance of vaccines, or the importance of wearing masks or the general information of how to best protect you and your family and friends has been all over the place. It’s not just coming from the Town of Nahant.” he said. “That being said, I believe that the role of local government throughout the pandemic is an important one, because residents tend to trust their local governments and seek information or ask questions, (and) they might be more comfortable reaching out to the Town Hall or the police station or our local public-health nurses. While we might not be the main source of information, we really try to make ourselves available and to share as much information as possible through our own website.”
My Vax Records is just one way residents can obtain their COVID-vaccination records, and can be accessed at https://www.myvaxrecords.mass.gov/
Pharmacies that administered the COVID vaccine and many healthcare providers also are making SMART Health Cards available, or are providing additional options.
