As Boston moved ahead with the state’s phased re-opening plan Monday, Mayor Marty Walsh warned residents not to take progress as a license to host St. Patrick's Day parties that could kick the city’s case count back up and stunt progress.
Walsh added that the city now aims to allow outdoor dining by April 1. That date is contingent on weather and pandemic health metrics.
The city has moved into what's officially called Phase III, Step 2 of the four-phase reopening plan, easing capacity restrictions on restaurants, gyms, museums, movie theaters and hotels while waiting to re-open indoor performance venues and recreational activities until later in the month.
Walsh said Monday the continued economic recovery depends on public health metrics, which St. Patrick’s Day super spreader events could jeopardize.
“There should be no large gatherings of any kind for St. Patrick’s Day,” he said during a new conference at City Hall. “We are so close to the finish line here that what we don’t need is a step backwards. We’re opening up … but events like St. Patrick’s Day and weekends like St. Patrick’s Day can throw us back.”
Walsh stressed that private gatherings remain limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
In the nearly one year since COVID-19 gripped the city, more than 58,000 Bostonians have been infected. As the city’s death toll rose to 1,273 over the weekend, Walsh celebrated the transformation of Roxbury’s Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center into a mass vaccination site that aims to inoculate up to 2,500 people a day.
Boston Health and Human Services Chief Marty Martinez said about 96,000 Bostonians have received a first vaccination shot. He expects that number to increase as mobile vaccination efforts ramp up and as the newly approved one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson becomes available in the city within the next few weeks.
“Obviously, all of that is in partnership with the state,” Martinez said, responding to a question about when doses of the new vaccine might arrive in Massachusetts. “We also believe our pharmacies will be one of the first locations where we’ll start to see Johnson & Johnson,” he said.
