Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Tuesday faulted a local cruise ship company for packing a large crowd onto its vessel over the weekend in Boston Harbor, saying the scene was ill-advised as the city and region continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That cruise going out in the harbor that night was not well thought out,” Walsh said during his regular press conference outside City Hall. “And I would ask the cruise line to don’t do it again. Because what you’re doing is, not only are you putting your company in harm’s way, you’re putting the people that go on the ship in harm’s way by putting them in a confined space where you really can’t physically distance in the right way. So I would suggest that you be very careful.”
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Right now, Walsh continued, “it’s important for us to stay very vigilant in keeping our numbers down. We think we’re winding down on COVID-19, but we’re not. If we’re in a sporting event, we’re probably at halftime right now. Which means we have another five or six or seven, or eight, nine months to go. So we still have to be very careful.”
Walsh’s comments came one day after the city issued a cease and desist order to the Bay State Cruise Company, which operates the boat, demanding that it put a stop to activities that the public officials said did not conform with the state’s reopening plan.
The company said Monday in a lengthy statement that the vessel had sailed at 33 percent capacity on Saturday evening - when it was photographed - and that there was “ample space” for social distancing.
Walsh, turning during his Tuesday briefing to headlines elsewhere in the US, said he’s stunned that elected officials in other states are still resistant to wearing face coverings in public.
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“It still amazes me there are still some elected officials in the country that are still refusing to wear a face mask and talk about the importance of a face mask,” Walsh said.
He also criticized the Trump administration for its recent announcement that it’s revoking an Obama-era housing regulation designed to eliminate racial disparities in the suburbs, a move that fair housing advocates have decried as an election year stunt designed to appeal to white voters.
“Unfortunately, I need to respond to another cruel and backwards decision coming out of Washington, D.C.,” Walsh said. “HUD said it’s revoking a fair housing regulation aimed at increasing diversity in the suburbs. They are clearly grandstanding in an election year. Housing is a human right. It’s the only way to battle decades of racist housing policy. ... While we’re trying to have a conversation about economic justice, Washington is using dog-whistle politics. In Boston, we will not waver in our commitment to fair housing.”
In addition, he was asked about an unmarked military vehicle spotted in Jamaica Plain. The vehicle raised eyebrows in the wake of federal agents descending on Portland, Ore., and elsewhere to respond to protests for racial equality.
Walsh said he would look into reports of the vehicle sighting in JP. He told reporters last week that “that type of so-called help [from federal agents] is not welcome here in the city of Boston.”
On Tuesday, he was also asked about the looming return of college students to the city and the planned reopening of Boston Public Schools in September.
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“I think the common theme I’ve heard from the colleges trying to come back to school this year are going to be that they’re going to do lots of testing, they’re going to create a space for students that might test positive for the coronavirus,” Walsh said. “They’re all going to have their own quarantine – rules and regulations for quarantine. They’re going to be individualized plans, but have similar themes throughout them. I’ll have more on that on Thursday.”
Regarding the BPS system, Walsh said city officials are working on hybrid model where students would return to school on a rotating basis. However, he said, school officials will also be prepared to revert back to all-remote learning if need be, depending on how the public health data plays out.
Walsh added that “as we move forward in this process, at some point, we’re going to have to reopen school. Whether that’s Sept. 10, Oct. 10, Nov. 10, Dec. 10 – whatever it is – right now is the time to have the conversation about what that looks like. I don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t tell if Sept. 10 is the right day yet. I hope it is, I hope our numbers are down.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe. Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jaclyn.reiss@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JaclynReiss
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July 29, 2020 at 01:22AM
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Mayor Walsh rips cruise ship company for large crowd, saying city is at ‘halftime’ in coronavirus fight - The Boston Globe
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