September is National Preparedness Month

Week 2: Prevention

Twenty years ago this week, a series of terrorist attacks resulted in the deaths of almost 3,000 people directly and over 2,000 more from secondary effects. One of the initiatives that sprang from the country's response to these attacks was the Medical Reserve Corps, resulting in hundreds of groups like the Weston Emergency Reserve Corps serving their communities throughout the U.S.

As COVID's domestic death toll reaches well over 130x that of 9/11, let us take a moment of silence to remember all those who have died from causes natural and human-made and to recommit ourselves to Prepare to Protect in every way we can.

This second week of National Preparedness Month, the focus is on Prevention. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. While we will always need to prepare for the unexpected, there is a lot we can do to prevent - or at least decrease the likelihood of - crises arising in the first place.

Public Health

Public health depends on strong preventive practices, and the current pandemic is the perfect example of their importance. As has been circulated widely, including by the Town of Weston, the best ways to protect yourself and your loved ones from a COVID-19 infection, including the highly-transmissible delta variant, which has been detected in Weston, are to:

Get vaccinated - Safe, effective vaccinations are available for free for everyone aged 12 and older.
Wear a mask - It is well-documented that wearing a face covering, preferably in the form of a well-fitting mask, can significantly decrease the spread of COVID-19. Weston's Board of Health has mask information for the unvaccinated, vaccinated, indoor settings, and for school-aged children.
Seek testing - if you are symptomatic or have had close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19
Activate MassNotify on your smartphone - This private and anonymous service notifies users of a potential exposure to COVID-19 so they may take the appropriate precautions
Wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer

Get a Flu Shot - Flu season is arriving once again. While good COVID-19 preventative practices might help us avoid influenza, getting a flu shot adds one more layer of protection. Why take unnecessary chances of getting sick with anything, especially during a pandemic?

Flu shots are safe and covered by almost all forms of health insurance. They are available now through many pharmacies, medical offices, and will be given by appointment at Weston's annual flu clinic. Watch for more information about that soon.

A Sustainable Future

Beyond public health, Weston is committed to a sustainable future. Natural disasters do not stop because of a pandemic, and our efforts to curtail their severity shouldn't either. The Presidential Proclamation on National Preparedness Month, 2021 clearly lays out climate change as being just as insidious a cause of future crises as other threats, natural and man-made.

As we face the surging threats of climate change, it’s clear that our Town needs to take bold action in the face of the climate crisis to try to prevent the most dire impacts. That action is Weston Ahead, the Town’s first Climate Action and Resilience Plan. There are five areas in the Weston Ahead plan that have been identified that will help enhance Weston's resilience. Each topic defines the goals, what you can do to help move Weston Ahead, as well as metrics in measuring our success in achieving net zero. Will you install solar at your home? Will you plant a pollinator garden? Will you commit to buying local food?

Visit Weston's Sustainability Planning web page for information about Weston Ahead and the other initiatives underway thanks to Weston's Sustainability Committee and SWAG, the Sustainable Weston Action Group and to be overseen by to Kortni Wroten, the Town’s first Sustainability Coordinator.

Lastly, for a great overview about how preparedness and sustainability initiatives overlap in Weston, see Kortni's recent Weston Ahead blog post. No matter what our roles or focus areas, we are all in this together.