Boston City Hall
As the city prepares for the coming surge of COVID-19 patients, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced “strict new measures for social and physical distancing” on Sunday, including advising all residents to stay at home between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. regardless of their destination or purpose, asking all residents to wear a mask or face covering when outside their own homes, and closing city basketball courts.
The city said that Boston “is only 11 days away from peak demand for hospital resources, an estimate that emphasizes the critical need to flatten the curve immediately.”
Walsh recommended that residents aged 65 or older do not leave their homes unless for an absolute necessity. He said that, for that age group, even taking a walk outside “is discouraged for the next few weeks, and exercising inside the home instead is encouraged as an alternative.”
There have been 1,877 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Boston residents, the city said. Fifteen Boston residents have died of COVID-19 and 181 residents have so far recovered from the disease.
“I cannot stress enough that the actions we take now through the next several weeks will help curb the spread of this virus, and save lives,” Walsh said. “There is nothing that I won’t do as Mayor of the City of Boston to protect our residents, and at this very critical time, we must do everything we can as Bostonians to protect one another. This is bigger than any one person – this is about the greater good of our people.”
Fifteen new COVID-19 deaths were reported Sunday, ranging in age from three men in their 50s to a Berkshire County woman in her 100s.
With nearly 72,000 people now tested, the number of confirmed cases rose by 764, to a total of 12,500. At least 1,145 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized, and 231 have died, according to the Department of Public Health data. A total of 102 long-term care facilities have reported at least one case of COVID-19, and 551 cases have been confirmed in the residents and health care workers of such facilities.
