Boston Mayor Marty Walsh expressed doubts that Boston Public School students would be able to return to school at all this current academic year.
“I don’t think there’s any question that kids aren’t going back to school on May 4,” he said during a press conference on Monday. “At this point I … [am] not too confident that we’ll have school this year.”
"I also think next year when school comes back in September it could be a very different situation in the classrooms,” he continued. “It’s something that we’re going to have to be very cognizant of.”
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In late March, Gov. Charlie Baker ordered schools in Massachusetts closed through at least May 4.
Walsh also said that the city plans to release COVID-19 testing results broken down by neighborhood and ZIP code to better track the disease.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to improve and expand that work,” he said.
The mayor expressed frustration that people were still gathering, despite repeated reminders to stay home. Walsh said police were sent to break up a golf game over the weekend.
“We need to stop the spread of the virus and the way to do this is not by gathering,” he said. “As the mayor you don’t wanna be telling people off and pointing to their shortcomings. … People need to get the point here."
The city has deployed sound trucks to deliver the message in seven languages that people need to respect social distancing guidelines. The mayor cautioned that the pandemic won't end when the surge is over.
“The worst is yet to come for a lot of people,” he added. “Even beyond the surge we’re still going to have positive cases. We’re still going to have a lot of loss of life.”
