My updates relating to COVID-19 for Wednesday, September 23, 2020.
Below are Mayor Walsh’s remarks for September 23, 2020.
I want to start by acknowledging the news from Kentucky that the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor were not indicted by the grand jury. Breonna Taylor was a young woman with an entire life ahead of her, that was taken away from her. I stand with those who demand justice for Breonna. We must demand justice for every precious Black life cut short by systemic racism all across our country.
My thoughts and prayers are with Breonna’s family, the people of Kentucky, and every person across our country — and right here in Boston — who is experiencing pain right now.
There has to be more transparency when incidents like this occur. Justice demands it.
We’re also still mourning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We offer our City’s respect as Justice Ginsburg lies in repose at the Supreme Court today. She was a champion for equality.
In Boston, we are devoted to upholding her legacy. We fight for the rights she fought for. And we will have more to say about how we are doing that in the coming days.
The COVID numbers: In Massachusetts as of yesterday we had 143 new confirmed cases, bringing our total confirmed cases in the Commonwealth to 125,866 cases. There were 11 new deaths, bringing our total deaths in Massachusetts to 9,118.
Boston’s numbers are as of today: 63 new cases, bringing our total to 16,766. We had no deaths registered here today. Our total people who lost their life here in Boston is 761. I also want to mark that the United States passed the 200,000 number of deaths due to COVID-19.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those families who’ve lost a loved one all throughout the United States of America during the COVID crisis.
For the week ending Saturday, September 19, Boston’s positive test rate was 2.7%, roughly level with the previous week. Our cumulative rate since March is now 7.3%. We have seen a slight increase in our hospitalization numbers, so there is an uptick in COVID activity that we’re experiencing here in the City. It has not crossed our threshold for major concern, but we’re monitoring the situation extremely closely. We’re bringing resources to where they are needed, and we’re urging everyone to take this virus as seriously as ever.
As far as the State metrics go, we are very close to moving into the “red” category on the map. That could happen either later today or next week. It means we are seeing roughly eight new cases per day, per 100,000 population. And what it means for us in Boston is that we have to keep monitoring all our metrics and responding with targeted strategies. We have to bring testing and resources where they are needed and address health inequities. We have to keep working with employers. We need to keep working with colleges and universities, as students continue to come back on campus. We need to work with nursing homes and all the institutions in the city. And we need to continue to work with the community, and we’re asking the community to keep taking the precautions needed. And we have to continue our cautious approach to reopening.
That’s how we’re approaching the new state guidance on restaurants and special events. On seating guidelines, yesterday the governor announced that the maximum per table could go to 10. We’re keeping the maximum table, in the City of Boston, at six. The other new steps — bar seating, menus, and self-serve drink stations — we’ll be accepting those recommendations and moving forward. But, the one change, the restaurant maximum capacity at a table will remain at six for the foreseeable future. We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep these numbers down.
This is in line with the cautious approach to reopening that we’ve taken all along. And it responds to conditions on the ground in Boston: Higher density, less space around restaurants, and COVID data that we are watching closely. We’ll continue to be guided by our public health experts on how we move forward.
Many other cities and towns in Massachusetts are in a different position than we are here in the City. And what we don’t want to see is a spike in cases.
We’re going to continue to support restaurants as we have from the very beginning: the relief funds and reopening funds; we’re also working on streamlining and working with our restaurants on outdoor seating; customer engagement resources like our online directories and free signage; and technical assistance for delivery services. We want to continue getting your feedback and hearing your needs. We’re also going to continue working with our restaurants as they want to stay open outdoors later into the year, and we’ve extended that date already. And we’re working on heating systems, so that they can keep outdoor dining going. Any questions you might have on restaurants, you can go to boston.gov/reopening, or contact our Office of Small Business, to learn more.
A little more on the COVID numbers and trends in the neighborhoods. In the week ending September 19, most of our neighborhoods are under a 3% positive test rate. East Boston’s rate was 6%, where it has been for a couple of weeks now. It was at one point at 11.4. We’ve made strong progress, and we’re working with the community to bring it down more. Hyde Park and Roslindale were just over 4%. In the last couple weeks, they’ve gone a little above 4%. Dorchester is also hovering around 5%. We are focusing on, in these particular neighborhoods, as we did in East Boston about a month ago, to work to bring these numbers down.
This week, our mobile testing team is in Grove Hall in Dorchester. It’s at 40 Geneva Avenue, across from Grove Hall branch library, through Saturday, October 3. Testing is available to all at no cost, and is available for people with and without symptoms. For a map of testing sites or to find out what testing facilities are in your neighborhood, you can go to boston.gov/coronavirus. If you have an iPhone, you pop in “coronavirus testing,” and it comes up on the map app right near whatever location you are in the City.
I’m going to keep asking people in the City of Boston to take precautions. We need you to be part of the solution. We’re not going to set off a panic right now with the increase in numbers, but we are seeing a little bit of a trend going up. It is within our control, so I’m asking people to continue to keep six feet distance from other people. That’s really important. We’re asking people to wear a mask when you leave the house. Make sure you have a mask on. When you’re walking down the street, and you don’t have a mask on when no one’s around you, hold it in your hand. If somebody is coming towards you, we’re asking you to put the mask back on. We’re asking people to keep washing your hands and cleaning surfaces. Washing hands with soap and warm water as often as possible and cleaning down surfaces. And we’re asking you to avoid large gatherings. One of our rationales behind the restaurant limit, quite honestly, we want people to avoid large gatherings. Those are things we can do that have been successful in somewhat containing the virus and keeping our numbers relatively low here in the City of Boston.
Young adults, especially, this is vital. We need you to share the message with your peers. We all need to be in contact with friends. But we’re asking to not go to parties, don’t gather indoors, and don’t be gathering in tight groups. Let others know why you’re making these choices to protect yourself and protect your families. I know you care about the community and you care about helping our city move forward in our recovery. So we’re asking you, we need you to be our messengers here in the City of Boston. If you can do that, that’d be helpful.
There is good news. The Boston Public Schools opened this year remotely and successfully. I want to thank and congratulate everyone involved. I want to thank the teachers and principals, parents and guardians, and of course our courageous and resilient students. I also want to thank the BPS leadership team for their incredible and ongoing hard work.
Teachers, school leaders, and families are reporting strong advances in remote learning since the spring. So, we’ve come a long way, and we’ve learned a lot since we shut the school district down in March. That’s thanks to extensive preparation by our school district, teachers, and principals. I know that many of our principals and school leaders have been working in their buildings for the last six weeks. I want to thank you for your incredible work. I want to thank the custodians, I want to thank the lunch monitors, I want to thank all the folks that had anything to do with helping us get our schools prepared. I want to thank our teachers, and our paraprofessionals, and all our folks. If I missed you, I don’t mean to miss you. But, I think it’s important for us to acknowledge the incredible work that’s been going on behind the scenes with the Boston Public School system.
We have distributed over 40,000 Chromebooks to students, and that work continues here in the city. We continue to expand access to the internet for families that don’t have the internet. We are committed to supporting students in whatever they need to succeed.
As a reminder, our plan for hybrid learning is a phased-in plan. The highest needs students will begin in-person learning no sooner than October 1. Then, starting with kindergarten, each successive age group will begin two days per week in school, starting no sooner than October 15, October 22, November 5, and November 16.
Moving forward on those dates depends on public health data and public health guidance. So, if there’s a reason for us to push these dates back, we will push these dates back. It’s important to note: we look at trends over time, not just one week of data. So, we’re looking back to see what the trends have been, quite honestly in the last 14 weeks in the City of Boston since pretty much the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Boston Public Health Commission and Marty Martinez’s office are monitoring and studying the situation closely every single day, and if needed we will adjust those dates of the hybrid, in-person model.
In the meantime, we continue comprehensive safety preparations in our school buildings. Operations and custodial staff are working hard, with support from City Hall. In all 125 of our schools we are providing dividers and distancing materials in all our schools; tools and strategies for ventilation and air flow in all our schools; sanitation stations and hygiene materials in all our schools; daily cleaning; and electrostatic foggers in all our schools.
We are focused on classrooms and hallways; offices and bathrooms; nurses stations, areas for kids they have to go to if they’re suspected of being sick, entrances and exits — every inch of space is being thoughtfully prepared for a return of in-person learning here in the City. And we are committed to the protocols we have developed for students and staff. That includes an agreement we reached with our teachers to provide COVID testing and support. And today I can announce a partnership to implement that work.
The Red Sox and Major League Baseball are going to help us provide COVID-19 testing for Boston Public School teachers. The testing program will begin at a location near Fenway Park and later move into other neighborhoods.
Starting this week, 5% of Boston Teachers Union members will be randomly invited to get tested each week. A random sample of teachers will be tested from across the city, weighted toward teachers working in neighborhoods with higher positivity rates of COVID. This testing program is an important way to support our teachers and keep our schools safe, as we prepare for hybrid, in-person learning.
I want to give a special shoutout to President Sam Kennedy and the Boston Red Sox, and the Boston Public Health Commission for organizing and implementing this weekly testing plan.
And in another act of generosity, the Red Sox and JetBlue, in collaboration with Boston Pride, have donated more than 60,000 reusable masks to Boston Public School students and teachers. Students who return for in-person learning will receive a mask when they return to school this fall.
Finally, a reminder to complete the 2020 U.S. Census. Right now, your chance to respond ends on September 30, 2020. We’re still urging the federal courts to change the timeline back to normal, but we need every Bostonian to assume there are only seven days left to help determine our city’s future. We’ve been working with every single community in the city to get the message out, in every single language. Recently we sent a mailer to over 300,000 addresses for people to be able to contact the phone number to call to make sure you get counted. It tells you what you need to know, and I’m asking you today to share the message.
Since the passing of Justice Ginsburg, we’ve seen again how important representation is. It’s our voice in democracy. It’s how we fight for our rights.
So, it’s really important, for all of us, that we make sure that we fill out the Census in the next seven days.
