[MARA_announcements] some updates

[n1xtb]

Folks,

The State EOC in Framingham is operational along with Region 1, 2 and 
Region 3/4 EOC (Agawam) this morning.
Various city and town EOC's have partially or fully activated.
There are many communities that are looking at their continuity of 
operations (COOP) issues.
Many towns and businesses are limited public access to their facilities 
to protect staff from exposure.
The Skywarn program has suspended it's spring training schedule.
Eastern MA ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) leadership will be 
discussing standing up periodic nets to share information. ARES should 
have some information to pass along at some point this week.

Our club members have supported the towns of Bridgewater, Middleboro and 
Carver in the past via the RACES program.

Our club had a specific relationship with the Middleborough Area Medical 
Reserve Corps (MRC) and could be called upon to assist if and when large 
scale vaccine distribution is implemented.

There have been reports of spotty telephone service. Amateur radio is a 
distributed communication resource.  It is more resilient than most 
means of communication. It has been useful in past disasters and could 
be called upon again.

Let's do our next MARA club meeting this Tuesday night 17 Mar on the air 
with a better turnout and discuss whether we might consider a daily net 
with check-ins.
We could report on the measures our individual towns have taken so far.

Here are some informational links:

https://ema.arrl.org/covid19-response/

https://www.mass.gov/resource/information-on-the-outbreak-of-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fcases-in-us.html

Stay safe.

-- 
73,
Phil McNamara
Emergency Operations Center Communications
508-947-9950 (office)
508-947-9947 (home)
n1xtb at powersrvcs.com
n1xtb at winlink.org