My updates relating to COVID-19 for Monday, December 14, 2020.
Below are Mayor Walsh’s remarks for December 14, 2020.
I want to start with a moment of silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut on the eight-year anniversary of that tragedy. Twenty-six people were killed that day, including 20 children and six school staff members. They and their families are in our thoughts and prayers today.
State numbers yesterday (Sunday): 4,677 new confirmed cases; the total is now 279,574. Forty-one new deaths were reported, for a total of 11,098.
In Boston today (Monday): 374 new confirmed cases, for a total of 33,323. One new death, for a total of 953.
Our prayers are with all those who are sick and suffering with this illness, as well as the families of those who have passed.
Our latest complete test data is for the week ending December 6. We had an average of 5,552 people tested each day, up nearly 38% compared to the week before. Testing activity increased since Thanksgiving, and we continue to work on expanding access.
This week, mobile units are at the following locations: In Jamaica Plain at the Mildred Hailey Apartments on Heath Street, from today through Thursday; in Roxbury, at Washington Park Mall on Warren St. from Tuesday through Saturday; and our new, high-capacity site in Hyde Park, at Boston Renaissance Charter School on Hyde Park Avenue, also tomorrow through Saturday. Please call ahead before visiting these sites. For information on these and over 30 testing sites across the city, visit Boston.gov/Coronavirus or call 311.
For the week ending December 6, the average number of positive tests each day for Boston residents was 438. That number spiked after Thanksgiving, and we’ve stayed at that elevated level for most of December so far. Our community positivity rate for the week ending December 6 was 7.2%. That is up from 5.2% the week before. Dorchester, East Boston, and Hyde Park remain the neighborhoods with the highest positivity, between 10% and 12%. Roxbury, Roslindale, and South Boston were also over 8%. We saw increased positivity in every single neighborhood of our city. Wherever you live or work in Boston, the COVID virus has been spreading.
In addition to the elevated case data, activity in Boston hospitals also continues to increase. We are in contact with our hospitals on a daily basis, and on each of the key metrics that we track, the data is moving closer to our thresholds for concern. Those include daily Emergency Room visits for COVID-19, availability of adult medical and surgical beds, and occupancy of Intensive Care Units. We’re also seeing this increased activity in our Boston EMS calls.
I speak with hospital leaders frequently. They have surge plans ready, to be able to expand capacity and treat everyone who needs it. They are not in danger, at the moment, of being overwhelmed. But, what they are seeing confirms the continued spread of the virus, and shows that more people are getting very sick. If we don’t stop these trends, we will be in for a very difficult winter.
Our public health experts have been analyzing this data closely and developing a plan. And, rather than wait until the situation gets worse, we are going to be proactive. We are going to take action now to reduce the in-person activity in our city, slow the spread of the virus, and prevent our hospitals from getting overwhelmed. Today the Boston Public Health Commission issued a supplemental order adjusting COVID-19 restrictions in the City of Boston.
Starting this Wednesday, December 16, Boston will move back into a modified Phase Two, Step Two of reopening, for at least three weeks. Our goal with this three-week pause is to slow the spread now so we can avoid more severe shutdowns later on. Our focus in planning this action has been to prioritize essential activities, like getting more high-needs children back into schools, as we are doing today and I will talk about.
In addition, we have been in close contact with communities across Greater Boston. We are going to take a regional approach, for maximum effectiveness. Several cities and towns are taking steps this week, with modifications fitted to their particular needs. They include Newton, Somerville, Brockton, Winthrop, and Arlington.
Before I mention some of the activities affected in Boston, I want to be clear: This is not about targeting specific sectors as the cause of viral spread. This is an effort to reduce overall activity outside the home, using the mechanisms afforded by the state reopening plan. In fact, we want to minimize the negative impact on working people and small businesses. After three weeks, we will re-evaluate the situation. If the metrics have moved in the right direction, we’ll lift these restrictions.
Some of the changes include:
- Museums, movie theaters, aquariums, and indoor event spaces will temporarily close to in-person use.
- Fitness centers, health clubs, and gyms will be closed to general use. One-on-one personal training can continue, with space restrictions. Outdoor gym activities can operate with fewer than 25 people, following Phase Two guidelines.
- Indoor recreational and athletic facilities will close for general use. Consistent with Phase Two, structured youth programs at community centers may continue.
- Indoor facilities for lower contact activities will also temporarily close, including bowling alleys, batting cages, driving ranges, and rock climbing gyms.
I want to thank all these businesses and cultural institutions for their cooperation and support. The vast majority have worked hard to be in full compliance at every stage, and you will have our full support in reopening and recovery.
Activities that continue as part of Phase Two include:
- Retail stores and personal services like hair salons and barber shops can remain open.
- Outdoor theaters and performance venues at the 25-person limit.
- Office space will remain limited to 40% capacity. I urge all employers to make sure that anyone who can work from home, is working from home.
- In addition, indoor dining at restaurants and bars may continue, with strict adherence to guidelines. Those include six-foot spacing, six guests per table, 90-minute time limits, and the 9:30 p.m. closing time. One change: during this pause, bar seating will not be allowed, except with special approval granted by the Boston Licensing Board. That’s to ensure materials are in place to protect both staff and customers.
I know that many people have concerns about indoor dining. There are concerns about the possibility of viral transmission. There are concerns about the ability of restaurants to survive closures and restrictions. I hear both of these concerns and we are responding to both of those concerns. Our approach is to follow the Phase Two guidance, with additional restrictions. We’re restricting bar seating to special approvals, as I mentioned. And we are increasing enforcement of all the guidelines for all licensed businesses. We will have an emergency Licensing Board meeting every Monday to address violations.
I also want to appeal to restaurant patrons and small business customers to be part of the solution. We hear from owners that it can be very difficult to police customers who keep their masks off or ignore distancing guidelines. So I ask you: if you dine in a restaurant or visit a store — and want to help that small business stay open — do your part and follow the guidelines. Whenever possible, use take-out and delivery services. You can find more details about how this order affects each sector at boston.gov/reopening.
Tomorrow morning, we are hosting a series of webinars for small businesses to go over the changes. They start at 9:00 a.m. with a general overview, followed by special sessions for restaurants, gyms, and performance spaces. You can also join our weekly small business conference call tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Visit boston.gov/SmallBusiness or look up the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development on Facebook. Please reach out, if you have any questions or concerns. The Reopen Boston Fund is still accepting applications to help small businesses with debt-free grant support.
I don’t want anyone to think we take these decisions lightly. We look at the public health situation. We also look at the economic impacts of restrictions, which are very real, human impacts. We weigh everything in the balance. I don’t ever take lightly the impacts on the workers, business owners, and nonprofit organizations that are affected, but the public health needs are clear at the moment. We must take action to slow the spread and protect our healthcare system, and we must prioritize the absolutely essential needs in our city.
Getting our young people back into school is one of those essential needs. A month ago, on November 16, we opened four schools for 200 high needs students. Today, 28 Boston Public schools are reopening with in-person learning for roughly 1,700 of our highest needs students. These are young people who face risks to their wellbeing when they are not in school, and they are students whose families have opted in to in-person learning. We have been doing everything we can to get them back in school, and that’s part of what today’s actions are about. We reduce non-essential activities so we can prioritize education.
I want to be clear: the School Department, with the support of this entire Administration, has thoroughly prepared these 28 schools for COVID safety. That includes:
- Air purifiers in every occupied space and frequent air quality testing.
- The best possible filters in all HVAC systems.
- Medical grade PPE for all staff.
- Disposable masks available for students and staff.
- This week, we are also launching a new COVID testing pilot for teachers, staff, and students.
This is a level of protection that goes beyond CDC guidelines, beyond state guidelines, and beyond what the vast majority of districts are doing. I give tremendous credit to Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and her team for doing this work and prioritizing the students who most need our support.
I want to address the vote that the teachers union took yesterday, criticizing the district and the superintendent. That action doesn’t help our collective efforts at a critical time. I value deeply the work that our teachers are doing and have done, all year, under very difficult circumstances. I am sympathetic to their concerns about COVID safety — these are all of our concerns and we are responding to those concerns. 100% of the safety measures that the teachers union requested are implemented in all the schools we have opened. The result is that, today, many more high needs students and their dedicated teachers and support staff are in school, working together, being safe, and learning. That’s a great accomplishment by all involved. We’re going to continue to support our teachers and school staff in that work. And we’re going to keep our promise to the families of our city to do everything we can to get kids safely back in school, where they belong. I have absolute confidence in the Superintendent and her team’s commitment to these values and this work.
In hard times, we all need to come together, but the one key piece missing from the puzzle right now is federal support. A national relief and stimulus package is long overdue. The actions we take today would be much more straightforward if we had federal backing for the workers and businesses affected.
The Biden-Harris administration plans to act immediately to bring comprehensive support, but the American people can’t wait until Inauguration Day on January 20. The emergency unemployment benefit is set to expire on the last day of this year. The CDC moratorium on evictions is set to expire on the same day. That’s a little over two weeks from now, at what could be the worst part of the pandemic that we’ve seen. That’s going to deepen the crisis conditions in every American community, Boston included.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have advocated to the federal government to do the right thing and help individuals, small businesses, cities, and states. I’ve sent letters and made phone calls on every essential issue: from food benefits, to childcare, small business relief, to immigration protections, low income housing and homeless supports, arts and culture organizations. But it shouldn’t take mayors and governors begging for help. Congress and the sitting Administration should do their jobs.
The American people need help now. Small businesses need help. Nonprofit organizations need help. Cities and states need help. Much of the essential work that we do depends on federal funding. I know there are differences in what the parties want to prioritize, but something has to get done. The partisanship must be put aside. We will continue to press for this however we can.
In the meantime, we need everyone to stay focused and stay vigilant. This is, and must be, a collective effort. We need everyone to be part of this. We cannot let our guards down, even a little bit. Keep wearing masks, handwashing, and avoiding crowds. When you go out, only go out for essential needs, and please follow this guidance while visiting any business.
I ask everyone to make a decision, today, to commit to safety over the holidays. We are living with what happened over Thanksgiving right now — we can’t let that happen again. We should not be traveling for Christmas. We should not be hosting or attending parties of any kind. And we have to limit gatherings to our current households.
Today’s rollback is about making individual sacrifices for the greater good, and that’s how we have to approach the holidays as well. The holidays are a time of collective renewal during the dark winter months. That’s what we’re focused on this year, more than ever before, only in a different way.
I want to close on a positive note. This morning, the first shipments of vaccines began arriving at Boston hospitals. This week, each of our hospitals is going to begin vaccinating healthcare workers in our city. That is the light at the end of the tunnel and it is beginning to grow brighter.
As we buckle down for some more weeks of hard work and vigilance, we can take hope knowing that better days are in sight. I ask everyone to follow the lead of our health care heroes and medical experts, and take the vaccine when your time comes. It’s another act that we can all take as individuals to protect ourselves and our families, and bring our community safely through this crisis.
