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Walsh urges caution in midst of surge

Says police will enforce curfew, bans on sports

Kenneal Patterson
Walsh urges caution in midst of surge
Health and Human Services Chief Marty Martinez addresses reporters. Photo: John Wilcox, Mayor’s Office

COVID-19 has infected over 5,500 Bostonians, but certain residents still refuse to follow safety precautions. Mayor Walsh expressed his disappointment with these residents on Monday and warned that the worst is yet to come for many people. Due to this high caseload, he added, schools will likely not reopen.

“I don’t think there’s any question,” he said in his April 20 briefing. “Kids aren’t going back to school May 4.” Walsh was “not too confident” that schools would even reopen before summer. Even in September, he said, the classroom structure will look different.

Massachusetts is ranked third for positive cases, following only New York and New Jersey. Walsh urged residents to stay at home. He noted that social distancing is key to getting through the pandemic.

Some people do not heed this warning, however. Last week’s sunny weather tempted people to leave home and play golf, said Walsh. The golf courses are closed, but groups still gathered outside.

“In one case, the Boston Police Department had to come and tell them to leave,” said Walsh.  “This shouldn’t have happened. You should not need to be told. But we won’t hesitate to send police officers to deliver the message.”

Fines have not yet been implemented, said Walsh, but officers may give citations. 

Things may be looking up. The Boston Globe reported Monday that Massachusetts General Hospital doctors are “optimistic that the number of coronavirus patients has plateaued.” But even as the surge slows, healthcare workers must still treat hundreds. The Boston Hope Medical Center was constructed to lessen this burden. Currently, 162 patients reside there currently, 76 of them homeless individuals who need a place to stay.

“It’s helping us with our hospital capacity and allowing our hospitals to treat the very sick,” said Walsh. The center has the capacity to treat 1,000 people.

Walsh also announced a mask decontamination program to take pressure off sourcing for personal protective equipment (PPE). The N95 face masks will be cleaned and reused, said Walsh, and supplied to workers and first responders.

“They can be reused up to 20 times each if we have the proper decontamination,” Walsh added.

The city is also expanding its COVID-19 testing services. Walsh said that more testing sites will be available across the city, and new testing data has been released. Starting Monday, said Walsh, the city will share testing results at the neighborhood and zip code levels.

“We’re looking at this kind of information and data every day to inform our strategy for deploying resources, conducting outreach, and providing communications to the community,” he said.

As of Monday, there had been 39,643 COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts and 5,749 in Boston. Boston’s death toll rose to 187.

Texted information is now available in 11 different languages. The text message alert system was expanded on Monday to include the languages Somali, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Vietnamese in addition to English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, French, Cabo Verdean Creole and Portuguese.

It’s unlikely that schools will reopen, but Walsh said that students are still receiving food at sites around the city. Six new sites just opened, he noted, in Dorchester, Mattapan, East Boston, South Boston, Brighton and Roxbury.

“Our support for Boston school children does not take a break,” he said.

Walsh also noted that two teenagers and a child were shot in Boston within the last week. On Wednesday, a 17-year-old girl was murdered in Dorchester. On Saturday, a 16-year-old was shot in Jamaica Plain and a 10-year-old was injured by a stray bullet in Roxbury.

“To anyone that fires a gun right now, you’re a coward,” said Walsh. “You will face justice.” Walsh noted that the Roxbury tragedy arose after a crowd ignored curfew and distancing guidelines.

“We’re doing everything we can to protect every community from a pandemic that is taking peoples’ lives,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to support people in need of resources. The last thing our community needs right now is violence.” 

On a positive note, said Walsh, there was little activity on the Boston Marathon route on Monday. Even though residents couldn’t celebrate a traditional Patriot’s Day, he urged people to reach out to one another. Everyone has a role to play in overcoming the pandemic, said Walsh.

“We need to be a united community,” he said. “We need to continue working together. We need to be staying focused on keeping every single community safe from harm.”

Resources

To sign up for text alerts in English: Text BOSCOVID to 888-777

For keywords to receive texts in other languages, visit: Boston.gov/covid-19

City of Boston Food Resources Map

Boston Public Health Commission

COVID-19 testing sites map