My updates relating to COVID-19 for Friday, August 21, 2020.
Below are Mayor Walsh’s remarks for Friday, August 21, 2020.
As of yesterday in Massachusetts: 262 new confirmed cases, bringing the total in Massachusetts to 115,310 confirmed cases. There were 12 new deaths yesterday, bringing the total death number in Massachusetts to 8,657.
Boston’s numbers, also as of Thursday: 31 new cases, for total cases in Boston of 15,018. We had no deaths yesterday, it’s two consistent days now without any deaths. Our death total remains 746.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people and families suffering from COVID-19 and the families that lost loved ones.
Our trends, for the week ending August 15, our seven-day average positive test rate in the City of Boston is 2.8%. That number continues to fluctuate up and down within the 2% to 2.9% range. We haven’t gotten to 3 yet. If you noticed over the last five weeks, we’ve gone as low as 1.9 and as high as 2.8, and last week we were at 2.6. As a reminder, that’s not the percentage of the population infected, it’s the tests that are positive. So, we’re taking an average of roughly 1,600 tests per day, and that’s the average of positive tests we take every day. So it’s a very small portion of the population. For daily new cases, we remain in the state’s “yellow” category, with a little over six daily cases per 100,000 population. So if you’re following the state, I believe they have three areas, that’s green, yellow and red, and we’re in that yellow category. The number of people at emergency rooms with COVID symptoms and the COVID patients in ICUs both remain flat and well below levels of concern right now. So we don’t have cause for alarm, but certainly we are monitoring the numbers closely on a daily basis.
As I’ve said when we were here last Tuesday, this certainly is not a time for complacency. Everyone has to keep doing their part to keep us going in the right direction here in Boston and in Massachusetts. We’re asking people to continuously wash your hands with soap and warm water as often as possible. We’re asking you to avoid large crowds. We’re asking you to stay six feet from other people if you’re going for a walk, or you’re sitting on the beach, or wherever you are, still keep that physical, social distance away from other people. We’re asking people to continuously wear a mask. The important part is wearing a mask. As I look at this press conference, almost everyone around me has a mask on, and that’s really important. And we’re also asking you to wash down sites that are often touched, whether its door knobs or handles on cars, things like that. In your work spaces, constantly wash your work spaces.
In the City of Boston, we will continue to be proactive in our efforts to contain the virus — with testing, with outreach, with resources, and with information in many different languages and formats needed to educate and keep individuals informed.
We are testing over 1,600 people per day on average, with increases in almost every neighborhood again last week. Citywide, we have more than 20 testing sites set up throughout the City, including mobile sites that are moving to the areas with the greatest need. At many sites, testing is available at no cost to you.
We launched a free mobile site yesterday at Jubilee Christian Church in Mattapan. It will run today and tomorrow, and next week from Tuesday through Saturday. It’s free and open to anyone, regardless of symptoms. And Jubilee has a beautiful, big parking lot so you can feel safe when you go there. If you’re looking for a full list of testing sites in the City of Boston, you can go to boston.gov/coronavirus.
This is also, as we all know, an economic crisis that’s continuing to hurt thousands of workers, families, seniors, and small businesses throughout the city, throughout the state and throughout the country. We have to keep working together as a city to meet the needs of our vulnerable residents. We’re going to continue to do that. And we have to help them stay safe and healthy. We have to give seniors the ability to stay home as much as possible. And we have to give working people the ability to quarantine when they have symptoms. That’s a big part of containing the virus.
The Boston Resiliency Fund has been indispensable in this work. We’ve provided over $25 million in grants to nonprofits and community organizations who are supporting vulnerable residents. In the last three weeks we’ve put out over $1.2 million. These organizations have pivoted during COVID to be a lifeline for the families and seniors they serve. Many of our nonprofits have a different mission, but they’re been able to turn to make sure they provide vital services to people.
Just a few recent examples of this I want to give you today: Fresh Food Generation and the Food Project are working in East Boston to provide families with fresh vegetables, fruit and dry goods, and meals. The need for food and the need for distribution of food is still very high here in Boston.
The Talented and Gifted Association’s Latino Program works with Boston Public School students and families. They’re buying gift cards for 75 low-income families that can be used to support local businesses. So what we’re doing is they’re getting gift cards, and then these families are turning and shopping in local business districts. So the money that’s being raised for the Resiliency Fund is going right back into our economy to help families and help the businesses in those neighborhoods.
Greater Love Community Cares is a group that supports residents who are unemployed or under-employed, with rent, and other needs. We’re hearing more and more every day the needs for supports around rents and utilities and other payments. They’re hiring drivers to deliver medicine and essentials to seniors and medically vulnerable residents in Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill, and Roslindale.
And I’d also ask you to check on your neighbors because sometimes we have senior citizens that shouldn’t be out in public because they’re vulnerable to COVID-19 because of underlying health conditions. So, we can help them and pick up groceries, pick up medical supplies, pick up medicine — anything you can do to help them.
The members of the South Boston Association of Nonprofits are bringing fresh food, grocery store gift cards, and meals to low-income families and seniors.
I want to just honestly thank all these organizations and associations who have been doing this incredible work for the last five months, not complaining, not saying anything disparaging. Just trying to do the right thing to help vulnerable populations. Thank you for your work. And we remain dedicated to this work.
When it comes to Boston Public Schools, families have faced difficult challenges this year. Balancing COVID precautions, work, childcare, and the needs of children to learn and be active. It’s been a really tough time, and it’s been a tough time since early March when we had to make the decision to shut school down over the course of a couple of days. I want to thank all of the people for the work that you’ve done from March through today, and I want to thank all of the parents for your patience as we continue to move forward here and laying out a plan for what’s next. I want to thank our teachers for the incredible work that they do every day on the online learning and preparing for what the school year will look like. I want to thank the BPS staff for their commitment to our students in this trying time.
Starting school is not an easy decision. It’s a very complex decision. We have taken the time to follow the science, listen to our public health experts, and constantly monitor the data as we move forward in making decisions. Our priority has always been the health and safety of all our residents, which includes our students, our teachers, our staff, everybody. We have taken the time to understand what it will take to open school buildings safely for children, families, teachers, staff, and the community. We have taken the time to listen and be in dialogue with families and teachers about their needs and concerns. Many of our teachers and staff have real concerns, and we need to continue to listen to those concerns. I want to thank our school leaders as well for the work that they’re doing since March, and the work that they’ve done throughout the summer.
This is not a decision where there is consensus. This week the Boston Public Schools began asking parents and guardians whether they want their child to begin school remotely or in the hybrid model. So far, they’ve had over 8,000 responses, representing 15% of the district. Whichever group of parents you look at, the results are clearly divided. We have families who want kids back in school. And we have families who do not feel comfortable sending children into school yet. We are being responsive to all those concerns. We are making the in-school component of hybrid learning an optional step for all families.
Before I get into the plan, I want to thank a few people who are here with me today because of their guidance and input. And we’re not complete, this is an ongoing process.
I want to begin by thanking City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, a former teacher — you’re never a former teacher, always a teacher — and Boston City Councilor who’s been working with us every step of the way on understanding the complexities of how we move forward. Vice Chair Alex Oliver-Davila from the Boston School Committee. I want to thank Alex and the School Committee for their incredible input here. I want to thank Jessica Tang, President of the Boston Teachers Union as well, who has been advocating on behalf of our kids, teachers, for our entire school community. And we’re going to hear from her in a few minutes, the Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools Brenda Cassellius.
We’re working collectively keeping equity at the forefront. We have to balance the need for COVID safety with the duty we have to educate a student population with high needs. Those needs include closing opportunity gaps that hurt Black and Latino students the most. Those needs include disability and language supports, many of which can only be met in-person. Those needs include safety around trauma, mental health, and family disengagement. For many of our students, school is their safety.
To balance these needs, I can announce we are moving forward with a responsible, phased-in plan to start the school year. This approach will give us time to assess health data before each step, working with the Boston Public Health Commission. It will allow us to address learning needs and opportunity gaps — in person and by providing extra help for students learning online.
In every step, families have the choice of whether to opt-in to hybrid learning or stay fully remote. To be clear, the dates I’m about to mention are dependent on the public health data. Each step will begin no sooner than the listed date.
On September 21, one month from today, all students will begin with remote learning.
On October 1, the option of hybrid learning may begin for students with the highest needs.
On October 15, optional hybrid learning may begin for the youngest students, in all three grades of kindergarten: K0, K1, and K2.
On October 22, opt-in hybrid learning may begin for grades 1–3.
On November 5, opt-in hybrid learning may begin for grades 4–8. That will include grades 6–8 in the high schools that include them.
And on November 16, opt-in hybrid learning may begin for grades 9–12.
Notice that your child’s first day in school for hybrid learning will depend on which group they are placed in, the A or the B group, for their two days per week in school.
Schools will have unique circumstances that require somewhat different approaches to each phase. This is a flexible model. School facilities will be in full compliance with state public health guidelines from the first day anyone enters those buildings, whether its staff or students. That work is happening now and continues to happen now. It will be complete and ongoing, as teachers and school leaders help us identify additional steps.
In addition, the phased approach allows teachers and staff to get comfortable with the safety of the building before students arrive. Teachers will begin professional development on Tuesday, September 8 for teaching both the remote and hybrid models as we move forward. The first students will not return until at least October 1. As more students phase in, it will still be less than 50% of the normal numbers at any given time.
Why we need this plan: We feel this is the best approach to educate our children. It creates a staggered approach for students to return to the classroom, in a safe and careful way. This is the best way to tackle opportunity and achievement gaps in our city. We’re going to make remote learning as high-quality as we possibly can. I have a lot of faith in our teachers to do that, and we’re going to support them. I call on all our elected officials to support our school leaders and our teachers.
But every day outside the classroom is a lost opportunity for many students. Schools mean more than learning. They mean essential services, care and mentoring, and social development. The other benefit is flexibility. We can adapt this plan to the health circumstances. We have more options moving forward.
The bottom line: We need to contain the virus and keep our communities safe. If we want to have in-school learning this year, that is one of the important things we can do: containing this virus, wearing masks, washing your hands, physical, social distancing. All of that is still very important for all of us to do. Kids need to get back to school, in many cases for reasons of equity and safety. And we need to provide quality education, in whatever format is required. That’s what this plan makes possible.
Every step along the way, we will follow science and public health data that we’ve been following for the past five months. Every family will have the choice about when to send their children into school. If you’re a parent and you’re not comfortable with sending your child to school, you don’t have to send your child to school. If you’re a parent and you’re looking for some concrete understanding of when school will begin, that’s what this plan does.
We will continue the work that began long before COVID-19: to close opportunity and achievement gaps, and give every single child the quality education that they deserve. The one thing I can say safely about all of us up here, sometimes we have different ways of getting to a goal. But we all believe in this. We all believe in making Boston Public Schools the greatest urban district in the country.
This has been a positive and collaborative process. I’m grateful to the Superintendent, the school leaders, the teachers, all of the staff at the schools who have been working hard — and working together — to come up with a plan. And I’m grateful to families and students for their patience and their contributions. I know this is a stressful time.
I’m going to invite the Superintendent to say more.
I also want to give a shoutout to bus drivers who continuously delivered food for us when the school year went remote in March, the lunch monitors, cafeteria workers, the paraprofessionals, the custodians, all of those folks. The custodians have been in the buildings since the very beginning of COVID-19, and they continue to be in the building getting our buildings ready.
Before I take questions, a quick reminder: The deadline to register to vote for the September 1 state primary election is tomorrow. You can check your voting status by going to boston.gov/elections. There are several ways to vote this year: Early voting, mail-in voting, our drop box here at City Hall, in -person voting on Election Day. We’re going to make sure those spaces are clean. We did have to change 20 locations around the City of Boston, some of our locations were in senior buildings so they didn’t feel comfortable having voting in there this year. So again, if your voting location was changed, you would have received a letter in the mail. You can go to boston.gov/elections to find out where your locations are. Learn more at boston.gov or by calling 311 with any questions you have.
