COVID-19 has caused devastation across the country and around the world. Over 150,000 Americans have died from this virus, over four and a half million cases have been reported in the U.S. alone, unemployment is at its highest rate since the Great Depression, people across the country have had to adjust to a remote work or school life, and essential workers are risking their lives every day to keep America running. As a densely populated state, Massachusetts was hit hard by coronavirus – especially our communities of color and nursing homes.

Throughout this pandemic, I have worked with the residents of the 8th Norfolk District to ensure that the coronavirus would have as minimal an effect on their lives as possible. I’ve worked with residents who have had challenges navigating the unemployment system and with small business and restaurant owners as they’ve navigated from shutting down to re-opening in a constantly changing landscape. In addition, I’ve served as the point of contact between our local and state governments to make sure that the Administration was getting up-to-date feedback from towns as they worked to implement recent directives. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has gotten a lot of things right throughout this process; we've also had many situations where we should have done better. 

Another pandemic at some point in the future is inevitable. However, we have more data on COVID-19 than on any other pandemic in history, and my hope is that we can use that data to better understand how to prevent a virus from reaching pandemic levels and how to respond if it does. Before we can do that, though, Massachusetts and the United States need to recover from the coronavirus and its economic impacts.

As your State Representative, I will work to:

• STABILIZE: Get families and small businesses back on their feet and mitigate the economic damage that has resulted from the coronavirus.

  • Ensure that the Commonwealth re-opens safely.

  • Provide Massachusetts’ hardest-hit communities with adequate, substantial aid to account for the disproportionate impact COVID-19 had on them.

  • Equip Massachusetts with the resources needed for our elections to continue unimpeded by COVID-19 and to protect every Massachusetts citizen’s right to vote.

• ANALYZE: The legislature must conduct a complete, stem-to-stern After Action Report in which we solicit input and feedback not just from business owners, but from workers who have been on the front lines and can provide invaluable information about what needs to be improved for the next time something like this happens.

• MOBILIZE: I will work with the four towns in the 8th Norfolk District and with state agencies to develop thorough, comprehensive plans to put in place, complete with resources to stress-test said plans, so that if we face a similar emergency again in our lifetimes, we have both certainty and confidence in our response.

On this issue, I am proud to be endorsed by:

• Massachusetts Nurses Association

• 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers

• Rep. Denise Garlick (13th Norfolk), chair of the House COVID-19 working group