Walsh: No shelter in place
Mayor said virus situation being monitored ‘closely’
Mayor Martin Walsh won’t be issuing a shelter-in-place order over coronavirus — at least not at this point — the mayor announced Tuesday night during a speech in which he sought to reassure the public that the city is doing its best to fight the pandemic.
“We are not currently at that point, but we are monitoring the situation closely,” Walsh said, sitting behind his desk as he spoke for about 15 minutes. He said 42 Bostonians have tested positive for the highly contagious virus.
Walsh stressed best practices like hand-washing and “social distancing.”
“We need everyone to limit contact with each other right now,” the mayor said.
Walsh insisted that the city shall overcome this crisis.
“Bostonians are resilient, forged in hard times and committed to a higher purpose,” the mayor said, invoking the 2013 marathon bombing. “We have faced frightening situations before and we know what it means to come back Boston strong … It’s never been more clear: We need each other.”
He said, “We are not powerless and you are not alone.”
On Tuesday, state officials announced a total of 218 people having tested positive for the virus, which can lead to pneumonia and death, particularly in older people. The global pandemic has killed more than 100 people nationwide and thousands more across the world, though the Bay State has no known deaths at this point. Twentyone people in Massachusetts are sick enough from the virus to need hospitalization.
More than 100 cases statewide are linked back to a biotech conference in downtown Boston three weeks ago, when someone who’d come in from Europe apparently sickened most of the other people in attendance.
Local TV stations carried Walsh’s address live in prime time, though further press — besides the camera filming the mayor — wasn’t able to attend. The move was a departure from what had had essentially become a daily routine at City Hall in which the mayor held one or two press conferences every day on the steps outside the large concrete building, each time announcing some new step or something further shut down.
On Monday, that had been construction sites, public libraries and the city’s youth centers all ordered to shut down. Before that, the school district, the Boston Marathon, restaurants and the St. Patrick’s Day parade all were suspended.
Walsh on Monday created a “Boston Resiliency Fund” which aims to direct donations to local nonprofits, and by Tuesday it had more than $10 million in donations.