Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said city officials will begin “cracking down” on house parties amid a spike in coronavirus cases, The Boston Globe reports.
During a Thursday City Hall news conference, Walsh said the city is considering issuing fines to people who host house parties. It is also looking into closing parks to prevent crowds from gathering.
Walsh said the citywide positive test rate for last week totaled 4.4%, which is up from the summer where the rate stayed between 1.8-2.8%.
To bring the virus under control, Walsh said city officials are looking into “some type of fine that we’re going to be imposing” on people who throw parties. He said both landlords and tenants may face fines because landlords “have to take responsibility for their tenants.”
“We’re looking at now, do we have to give notification, how we’re going to do it,” he said. “We’re at the next step now. I’ve been standing at this podium for the last two months. Everyone’s been asking me, you know, ‘Are you going to start enforcing these rules?’”
The newspaper reports that Walsh’s press conference comes a day after Councilor Ed Flynn said Boston police responded to more than 200 calls about loud parties in September just in the district covering South Boston.
When it comes to people congregating in parks, Walsh said “we’re asking people to be smart about it, but if we have to shut parks down, we will.”
According to the newspaper, Walsh’s Thursday comments signal a shift in direction for how he has handled the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, a curfew was merely a request. There were no fines issued to people who went outside after the 9 p.m. deadline was in place. There have been no citations for people not wearing masks.
He has asked people to just follow the rules. He said not attending a house party “is a small sacrifice.”
“I certainly understand the need to socialize but right now we need to focus on activities that aren’t high-risk for spreading the virus," he said.
He said the city’s rates are “going in the wrong direction” and if people don’t follow the rules there could be “talk about shutting down the city again.”
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