Party’s over before it starts
Baker reinforces virus warning ahead of holiday weekend
Gov. Charlie Baker had a stern pre-Labor Day message for would-be party-goers, especially those living in cities and towns at the highest risk of coronavirus: “No one can afford to gather in large groups.”
“We still have a long way to go. And I think it’s important for people to remember and understand that,” Baker said.
Baker reiterated the coronavirus restrictions, reminding people — especially those living in the highestrisk communities — to avoid gatherings, wear face coverings and practice good hygiene and social distancing.
“It stinks,” the governor said, summing up his frustrations with seven months of pandemic restrictions. “A lot of this stinks. But it comes with — it’s part of what comes with COVID, and honestly, it’s why we’ve been so aggressive about trying to get this notion across that the most important thing we need to do as a commonwealth is beat this thing back.”
Coronavirus enforcement teams will be staged in at least 15 different locations over the holiday weekend, Health and Human Services Sec. Marylou Sudders warned.
The enforcement teams “are a mechanism to send a message” to people violating COVID-19 restrictions, the governor said noting citations and fines aren’t the goals — compliance is.
It’s the first undertaking of a new “Stop COVID-19” initiative the Baker administration unveiled Thursday in hopes of hammering down coronavirus cases in the five Massachusetts communities that have shown the most persistently high COVID-19 case and transmission rate: Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, Lynn and Revere.
The campaign, an extension of the COVID Enforcement and Intervention Team created last month to ramp up enforcement efforts in high-risk communities. It features a new website, educational outreach and an “advertising blitz” in more than six languages that will expand throughout the fall, Sudders said.
Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo joined Baker at the State House on Thursday. His city saw an average of 12.6 new cases of COVID-19 each day in August, up from an average of six daily new cases in July.
He said the latest interventions are his hope of driving the numbers down in his cities and others at risk.
“We are cities of essential employees and frontline workers, many of whom rely on public transportation to continue to report to work … and we continue to see clusters of cases emerge at single addresses,” the mayor said.
Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Framingham, Westhampton, and Winthrop are currently the state’s highest-risk communities.