The town of Johnston and Tri-County Community Action Agency will open a 40-foot trailer for COVID-19 testing at the high school later this week as cases and hospitalizations continue to rise across the state.
Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena told the Sun Rise this week that he is concerned about the town’s positivity rate and wanted to increase testing. Johnston has the fifth-highest positive test rate in the state at 13 percent, behind only Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and North Providence. The town sits just ahead of major cities like Cranston and East Providence, which have respective rates of 11 and 10 percent.
Polisena said Superintendent of Schools Bernard DiLullo and School Committee Chair Robert LaFazia were both consulted on the matter and are “very excited” to get the new site up and running. The mayor said Tri-County CEO Joseph DeSantis was instrumental in securing the trailer.
“Joe got it through federal grants,” Polisena said. “Any time we've asked Tri-County for anything, they’ve always been there for us. We have a very strong partnership with Joe DeSantis and the entire staff of Tri-County. We work hand-in-hand … He’ll have it staffed and our residents will be able to come in, not waiting two or three hours, to be able to get COVID testing. I decided to put it in the high school parking lot because I think it’s ideal as far as traffic, if it starts to back up.”
Polisena said he has already had conversations with Joseph Razza, Johnston’s police chief and local emergency management agency director, about vaccine distribution. Both Pfizer and Moderna have reported optimistic results of their vaccine trials, with effectiveness ranging between 90 and 95 percent. If the path to approval goes smoothly, shots could be administered across the country as early as mid-December.
When the time comes for Johnston to receive the vaccine, Polisena guaranteed at least a few volunteers will be ready to help out.
“I know I’m going to volunteer to give shots, being a nurse, I did it with the H1N1 [vaccine]. I know my wife will volunteer and the firefighters that will also volunteer, so we’re going to take care of our citizens of this town. I look forward to that, obviously immunizing those that need to be immunized. We’ll have to do a logistics-type thing, maybe have it by alphabetical order so there isn’t massive chaos.”
Polisena, a nurse by trade, addressed the massive amount of vaccine misinformation and disinformation that floods social media on a daily basis. While he doesn’t have any footprint on Twitter or Facebook, he emphasized his trust in science and Center for Disease Controls and Prevention that the vaccines will be safe.
“The flu shot, for instance, this year,” Polisena said. “I got what they call the super flu shot, because I’m 65. There’s risk for anything, but I think the risk is minuscule compared to what the outcome is. I believe that health care providers, 99 percent of us do well with vaccines. There’s always that 1 percent, people may have a reaction to it. I have to say that I do trust the CDC and their testing. I’m sure that the drug companies have done – in a quick fashion – they’ve done a lot of testing.”
He urged health care providers and those over 65 years of age, especially with preexisting conditions such as respiratory illness or diabetes, to receive the vaccine when it is available. He said he will get the vaccine as soon as he can, especially considering he wants to help inoculate others. He said he is still going to wear a mask after vaccination, too.
“This country’s not going to put out something that’s going to poison their population, that’s for sure. Will there be reactions? I’m sure there will be, but most of the reactions – the same thing with the flu shot, some people say, ‘I caught the flu,’ which is not true. That’s an old wives’ tale. You don’t catch the flu from getting the flu shot. Your immune system might have been low at the time, but they give you antibodies to fight off the flu,” he said.
He added: “I have no hesitation of rolling up my sleeve and getting that vaccine. I recommend my fellow Johnstonians [do] the same thing.”
Until then, Polisena said it’s time for Johnston to “bunker down” and continue washing hands and wearing masks. He again applauded Gov. Gina Raimondo for her handling of the pandemic and the recent spike in cases and hospitalizations, saying she “has done a very incredible job trying to keep us safe.”
“It’s frustrating, people are getting ticked off because she’s putting in different rules or regulations, but listen,” Polisena said. “When you lead, some people don’t like that you lead, so obviously she’s leading to make sure, I think she’s probably anticipating with Thanksgiving that we’re probably going to get an outbreak.”
Maintaining the same level of caution can pay dividends in the spring.
“I think we just bunker down, we just keep washing our hands, keep wearing the facemasks, follow the rules and once we obviously get the vaccine I think we can somewhat loosen up, still using caution, however,” Polisena said. “I would still follow the directions, and then once the spring comes hopefully we can shed the masks and this will all be a bad memory once the vaccine comes … We’ll make sure that all the Johnston residents are going to be protected. If they want the vaccine, they will have access to the vaccine, free of charge.”
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