My updates relating to COVID-19 for Wednesday, November 25, 2020.
Below are Mayor Walsh’s remarks prepared for November 25, 2020.
The state numbers yesterday (Tuesday): 2,225 new confirmed cases, for a total of 204,060 cases. There were 20 new deaths reported, and 10,319 people have now passed away.
In Boston yesterday: 187 new confirmed cases, for a total of 25,962. One new death was recorded yesterday. The total is now 903.
This Thanksgiving, our prayers are with the families who lost loved ones and all those suffering due to COVID-19.
Testing data: For the week ending on November 20, we had an average of nearly 4,800 people tested each day, up from about 4,000 the week before. That does not include college testing, which would more than double that number if added. I want to thank everyone who took the time to get tested.
I know many wanted to get tested before Thanksgiving. We don’t want people to think that a negative test result allows you to have a normal Thanksgiving. You must still take all the precautions that I’ll talk about today. But, we expect and encourage this interest in getting tested to continue, so we continue to work on expanding our testing capacity, especially in communities with the highest rates of infection.
Our free mobile testing sites are open today and this Saturday in East Boston, at Central Square Park and Mattapan, at Jubilee Christian Church. We are working on adding a third mobile team that we can move around the City. We’ll have more details to come.
Currently, we have over 30 testing sites in Boston. You can find them listed and mapped at boston.gov/coronavirus, or you can call 311.
Positivity for the week ending November 20: The average number of positive tests each day for Boston residents was 215, down from 245. Our current community positivity rate was 4%, down from 5.6%. No neighborhoods had community positivity over 8%, although seven neighborhoods were over 5%. Every neighborhood saw positivity go down, except Mattapan, which had a small uptick. So, tests were up and new cases were down, for the first time in several weeks. That’s good news, but it’s just one week. We need to keep it going, so it’s all the more reason to continue taking precautions, especially tomorrow on Thanksgiving.
Overall, the data continues to tell us that viral transmission is happening in every community. Each of us is at risk of infection. Our older and medically vulnerable relatives continue to face higher risk of severe illness. As a community, we face the collective risk of a surge in cases happening over the winter. We’re seeing what that looks like at hospitals in other parts of the country right now. We have the power to prevent that happening here, and we must work together to do that.
Because of the recent trends, we are not going to move into Step 2 of Phase 3 in the reopening plan, despite spending three weeks out of the “red” zone on the state map. We need to continue taking a cautious approach to get our numbers going down consistently. But, our first line of defense is the personal precaution we can all take: in the workplace, in the car if you are carpooling, on the train or the bus, in stores and public spaces, in the home, and especially tomorrow, on Thanksgiving.
I know most of you have made plans already. But I want to repeat what everyone should be focused on. Please celebrate in person only with the members of your current household. If you plan to gather in a larger group, I ask that you reconsider those plans. If you do gather, I ask that you take steps to minimize the risk of transmission.
Have this conversation now, with your family, if you haven’t already, so everyone knows what to expect. Keep it small. Ten people is the limit for indoor gatherings. Wear masks when you are not eating. Physically distance. Wash your hands frequently. Eat outdoors if possible or, open windows and doors. Clean frequently touched surfaces. Have one person serve the food, wearing a mask and gloves. Do not share food, drink, or utensils. Think especially of your older relatives, or anyone with a medical condition. It would be a terrible tragedy if outbreaks driven by family gatherings caused people to get sick and even lose their life.
I have an update on our work to support small businesses. It’s been a very tough time for small businesses, but we have new and existing supports available.
This weekend is Small Business Saturday. We make a special push to highlight our neighborhood commercial districts. We won’t be doing those events in person this year, but we are doing more than ever to help our small businesses get through a very difficult time.
So far, our Small Business Relief Fund distributed $6.7 million to nearly 1,900 businesses.
The Reopen Boston Fund — which provides grants for safety materials — has distributed $3 million in grants to over 1,500 businesses. That fund continues to take applications, which you can find at boston.gov/reopening.
Last week, our three new relief funds took in over 1,600 applications for grants. 1,000 of those were for commercial rent relief. So far, we’ve had 330 landlords complete their part of the application, which closes on Monday. I want to thank the businesses and landlords for working with each other and working with us, and I encourage others to do the same.
I would ask everyone, as the holiday season begins, to look for ways you can safely support our local small businesses. We are putting in place some transportation opportunities to help you do that.
Starting this weekend, we will have free, two-hour parking in all our parking meters every Saturday through the end of the year. It’s a way to encourage more people to visit and patronize local businesses.
We also have holiday discounts for the Blue Bikes bike-sharing program. This Monday, we’re offering a 30% discount on annual membership. We still have free 90-day passes available for front-line and essential workers. While the weather holds up, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of our new bike lanes, and visit our local businesses.
For restaurants, we have plans to continue our outdoor dining option. The public space program ends on December 1, next week, but outdoor dining may continue on private property indefinitely. In addition, we are working on an outdoor dining program for the spring. I’ll be sharing more details next week. We remain committed to providing restaurants with opportunities.
We are also committed to building back a better normal. During the pandemic, 54% of the small businesses we have supported are owned by people of color, reflecting the diversity of our city. This Monday, we launched a process to reimagine our Main Streets program as a vehicle of recovery that helps close racial wealth gaps.
We continue to use the Boston Resiliency Fund to support our most vulnerable neighbors. We face a tough winter, and we have neighbors with deep needs. We need to be there for them, as a community, with health care access, food, housing help — the essentials people need to stay safe. That’s work the Resiliency Fund has made possible.
We’ve raised over $33 million and we continue to get those resources into our hardest-hit communities and into the hands of our most vulnerable residents. This week, we are distributing nearly $1.8 million to 17 nonprofit organizations, 70% of which are led by a person of color and 76% by women.
This week, we are funding a support system for students in remote learning, led by Boston After School and Beyond. This is a network of safe, trusted child-care programs that reaches 6,250 students in our highest needs communities, including Chinatown, East Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester. They allow students to learn remotely from school — but in a safe and supportive setting — while parents and guardians go out to work. This is a way we can support students during remote learning through the work of some wonderful, trusted community partners. They include the Greater Boston YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs, the East Boston Social Center, and more.
Other grants support telehealth for seniors; mental health support for immigrants; testing, health care access, and wellness checks for seniors and others in the Black community, led by the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition; and, as always, fresh food and produce for families and seniors across our city.
The Fund has now distributed $29.4 million to over 360 local nonprofit organizations in Boston. Overall, 56% of grantees are led by a person of color and 58% are led by women. 29% of all grants have gone to immigrant-serving organizations. We are still taking donations, and you can learn more at boston.gov/ResiliencyFund.
Usually, I spend part of Thanksgiving Day with others serving food at homeless shelters. That will be harder this year because we can’t bring extra people into our shelters. I’ll be at an outdoor event with Pine Street Inn.
We should all keep the homeless and the hungry in our hearts and minds. We’ve seen a terrific outpouring of generosity this week, under challenging circumstances. For example, we have free Thanksgiving care packages with food and other essentials for young people (ages 13–24) experiencing homelessness. If you are a young person or you know a young person who could use a helping hand: Care packages are available for pickup at the More than Words bookstore on Berkeley Street in the South End until 5:00 p.m. today.
The onset of winter brings additional safety concerns, compounded this year by COVID. So, we have a plan in place to make sure that our homeless neighbors are safe this winter. This year, we brought on additional shelter sites to de-densify our existing shelters during the pandemic. As we head into winter, we anticipate that we will need more capacity in the system. So, we have secured capacity for an additional 200 beds of emergency shelter, including beds for women, men, and young adults.
I want to thank our staff, as well as our partners at St. Francis House, the Boston Rescue Mission, Pine Street Inn, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the New England Center for Homeless Veterans.
I also remind everyone to call 911 whenever you see someone in distress who may be without a home or outdoors for any reason.
This work goes far beyond the holiday season. Caring for the homeless means fighting to end homelessness. And we work to keep our residents safely housed, every single day. So far, during this pandemic:
We have gotten permanent rental vouchers into the hands of nearly 1,000 families with children in the Boston Public Schools who were at risk of homelessness.
We’ve provided permanent housing to over 200 individuals who were homeless.
In addition, we have helped more than 100 young adults who had previously been homeless, secure housing. That work was part of our plan to end youth and young adult homelessnesss, in partnership with dozens of organizations.
We have also distributed $4.1 million in rental relief to nearly 1,200 households that were at risk of eviction. We have $8 million more available and we are processing hundreds of applications.
This work is keeping thousands of people in their homes, but the need remains great. And, with Housing Court open again, I want to share a message to those who may be facing eviction. We have funded an attorney from Greater Boston Legal Services to work with you, free of charge, at Boston Housing Court. When you are summoned to court, we are asking you to request access to that service.
We have been advocating for the right to free legal counsel in Massachusetts. In the meantime, we have used funds from our anti-racism investment to provide free counsel. We want to make sure you can access that resource.
I also remind everyone that the federal CDC moratorium on evictions remains in place, for those impacted by COVID-19, until December 31. You need to present a declaration of need in Housing Court, to get access to that protection. We created a simple template that you can print and sign, at boston.gov/HousingStability. We are asking people to spread the word and help people access that document.
The reality is, this is a national issue. Across the country, the pandemic is hitting communities harder than ever. And on January 1, when the CDC moratorium ends, we could see a spike in homelessness. So we need Congress to act, and act decisively, to prevent yet another public health disaster from devastating the American people. I know there are distractions in Washington right now, but there are always distractions. There is nothing to stop Congress and the outgoing president from taking action.
I was in a virtual event last night that featured Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. It was hosted by Rev. Liz Walker of Roxbury Presbyterian Church and Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond of Bethel AME Church. The purpose was to bring health awareness and information to the community.
It was a great conversation, and Dr. Fauci showed why he is so respected. One thing he said was this: What allowed him to do his job in the midst of so much political noise, was to focus on his primary purpose and responsibility: to protect the health and safety of the American people. Everything else was secondary. That’s a great reminder to all of us — including Congress — of the focus we should have, and the way we should move forward.
