Statement from the Town Manager- April 8, 2020
To: The Reading Community
From: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur
Date April 8, 2020
RE: Covid-19 Update
Sadly, late yesterday I learned that we have lost a member of the community to the Covid-19 virus. Many of our neighboring communities have also suffered similar losses, but this news brings it home to all of us. Please take a moment today to reflect for the grieving family at this most difficult time. Further details are not available out of respect for the family and friends of the deceased.
News at the international, national and state levels has for weeks told us how serious the Covid-19 virus is, and passed along many suggestions on how each of us can and should minimize its impact. Sadly, now that same news has become very personal and local.
Reading has been monitoring and posting Covid-19 information to the community since late January 2020. To help stay current, please visit our website at https://www.readingma.gov/home/urgent-alerts/everything-you-need-to-know-during-the-covid-19-state-of-emergency and check out the many references to resources provided.
Many of you have taken the advice to socially distance, which is the single most powerful action any of us can take. Thank you!
Some folks in town still recreate and gather in groups when the weather is nice – which is the single biggest complaint I have received over the past month. For those that find it difficult to stay home and keep your family’s future safer, please reflect a moment about those on the front line fighting to save our friends and neighbors. They risk their family’s future for all of us, and often work until exhaustion makes them literally fall to the floor for a moment’s rest. Every time you stay home with your family, you improve their chances of getting home to see theirs.
Thank you for the fantastic neighbors-helping-neighbors outreach we have seen in the community, and the support you have shown for our organization. If you and anyone you know needs help with Human/Elder Services concerns, please email us at covid-19help@ci.reading.ma.us or call 781-942-6680 and select option #1.
