Walsh Does Not Rule Out Closing Boston Restaurants, Businesses Again If COVID Cases Keep Rising
BOSTON (AP) — Mayor Marty Walsh didn't rule out shutting down Boston restaurants and other businesses again if the number of coronavirus cases reported in the city continues to rise.
The city's positivity rate for the week ending Nov. 12 was 9.6%, up significantly from summer averages of 1.8% to 2.8%, he said at a City Hall news conference Tuesday.
"I don't want to be standing in front of this podium three weeks from now shutting down restaurants and retail shops and businesses and sports and schools and everything that we've done," Walsh said. "We don't want to go backwards."
He said an economic shutdown would be a last resort.
Walsh also urged people to spend Thanksgiving only with immediate members of their household.
The city will start releasing data on six key metrics twice a week in an effort to better track the spread of infections and monitor hospital capacity, he said.
Those metrics include the average number of daily cases, the community-level test positivity, the average number of daily tests administered, ICU capacity and percentage of nonsurge beds occupied, overall number of beds available and the average number of emergency visits related to COVID-19, according to Marty Martinez, chief of the city's Office Health and Human Services.
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