BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says there are no immediate plans to lift the city’s mask mandate, but the mayor did lay out the parameters for lifting the requirement to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor places in Boston.
Speaking at an event in Brighton on Tuesday, Mayor Wu said the city continues to see trends going in the right direction when it comes to the pandemic.
“The reporting that happens on a weekly basis shows that our citywide community positivity rate is now a little over 7 percent at 7.4%,” said Wu. ”It’s been coming down quickly, and we continue to monitor those metrics very closely.”
“We are looking at three key metrics: ICU capacity, daily COVID hospitalizations, and community positivity rate,” said Wu. “Once we are under all three of those thresholds, we intend to lift the business proof of vaccination requirement.”
Wu said “we are not yet there in terms of pulling” the mask mandate.
“We’ve had lots of conversations about other policies in place,” she said.
“For example, the city’s requirement for proof of vaccination to enter certain indoor venues. When it comes to that particular policy, the thresholds that the Boston Public Health Commission has set are 95% capacity of ICU beds, 200 daily COVID hospitalizations, and five percent community positivity rate,” said Wu.
“As it stands right now, we are already under that threshold for ICU capacity. We are at 7.4 percent for the community positivity, and we’re at 387 daily hospitalizations as of this week,” Wu said.
The proof of vaccination requirement has been in place since January 15th.
Under the policy, people are required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to enter certain indoor spaces in Boston that offer Indoor dining, including bars and nightclubs, indoor fitness, and Indoor entertainment.
The mask mandate has been in effect since August 27, 2021.
The Board of Health in the City of Worcester voted Monday to rescind its mask mandate, effective February 18th.
“The mask mandate continues in Boston to this point. We continue to be in contact with the Boston Public Health Commission,” said Wu.
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