Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Friday that the city is opening its first facility offering tests for coronavirus for first responders.
The facility, at Suffolk Downs in East Boston, will open Saturday.
“This is an important step to keeping our first responders safe and healthy, and we have to do that because our first responders are our front-line folks,” Walsh said.
Earlier Friday, Gov. Charlie Bakerannounced the state is offering free online screening services with Buoy Health, based in Boston’s South End, to all Massachusetts residents. Screening services can be accessed at BuoyHealth.com.
Meanwhile, Walsh sought to tamper expectations that life will return to normal within a matter of weeks.
As of Thursday, there were 2,417 confirmed cases of coronavirus statewide and 447 in Boston, Walsh said. Forty Boston residents have made full recoveries and two have died, he said.
“This is the largest increase we’ve had in coronavirus,” Walsh said, noting that the number of new confirmed cases has grown each day for the last three days.
Walsh continued to urge residents to stay home and practice social or physical distancing, saying that while most residents are dong so, “too many people are still not taking that seriously enough.”
And he said the stay at home advisory is likely to remain in place for quite a while.
“There’s no timeline or guidelines, but [with] all the people I’m talking to, we’re talking over a month,” Walsh said. “I think we’re in this until May, May or June, maybe July. ... I think when we return to our normal way of life, it’s not going to be so normal, and we’re going to have to adjust to that.”
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Walsh also called on Boston residents to practice kindness and patience with each other, and decried reports of racist and anti-immigrant behavior.
“Remember that the virus doesn’t discriminate, and neither should we. This is not a time for scapegoating, it’s not a time for stigmatizing anyone,” Walsh said. “We’ve heard about bullying and harassment and racism around our country. I certainly won't stand for it in Boston, it’s not who we are.
“It’s also important to remember that we can’t get through this crisis without our immigrant neighbors and their contributions,” Walsh said. “Sixteen percent of all health care workers in the United States are immigrants. … Twenty-nine percent of our physicians are immigrants.
“We are all in this together and we depend on each other,” Walsh said.
