December 4, 2020
Amid spiking COVID cases, Worcester won't put more restrictions on restaurants, other businesses
Photo | Grant Welker
Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus. Behind him are Dr. Michael Hirsh, the medical director of the Worcester Division of Public Health; Carolyn Jackson, the CEO of Saint Vincent Hospital; Eric Dickson, the president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care; and Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty.
By Grant Welker
Worcester city officials pleaded with the public to be safe during the latest rise in coronavirus cases on Thursday, but said they will not scale back opening restrictions for restaurants and other businesses.
"I do think it's challenging for one city to do, to shut down restaurants or stores, when people can go to the next town over to do that," City Manager Edward Augustus said in a press conference outside City Hall. "You don't necessarily get the benefit of that, in that people are just going to travel to other places, and then you hurt your businesses. It's a challenge for individual communities to do it."
"We're certainly talking amongst ourselves about things that we can do," Augustus said.
Worcester has seen its highest case levels yet in the last few weeks, including more than 1,000 new cases in the most recent eight days through Thursday. That includes 278 new cases on Wednesday alone.
The city has not placed new restrictions on restaurants allowing indoor dining, for example. Gov. Charlie Baker also has not put stricter limits in place as statewide cases have reached their highest points yet. Massachusetts had 6,477 new cases on Thursday, by far its highest yet, in a total that includes 680 the state said were from before Dec. 1.
Even higher levels are expected in a few weeks that would reflect cases caught during Thanksgiving, Dr. Michael Hirsh, the city's medical director, said.
"This is all very, very dire, and it doesn't yet reflect the next wave that's going to come from Thanksgiving travel," he said.
While keeping business operating guidelines in place, Augustus and other city officials pleaded on Thursday for the public to be more vigilant in wearing masks, staying at a safe distance from others, and washing hands. City leaders have held informational meetings with restaurant officials and with property managers, and have another scheduled for next week with day care centers and schools that have remained open. Worcester Public Schools are operating remotely.
"We've done everything we know how to do. We've begged, we've cajoled. We've tried coming up with creative ways to get people to comply with the protocol," Augustus said.
The city manager urged the public to be safe not only for themselves but also for loved ones and healthcare workers who've been treating virus patients for more than nine months.
"Let's do it for them, because they've been with us every step of the way," he said.
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Anonymous
December 4, 2020
Pleading is not the solution and they have not done "everything" they could.
Start closing things down. Yeah, people can go to the next town over, but if everything is open then people will assume that it's safe regardless of any "pleading". And realistically people are less likely to go shopping or eat in restaurants when it's inconvenient.
Close businesses that refuse to comply with mask regulations instead of fining them: we have businesses that are repeat offenders, why are they still open? Educate people about why they need to cover their nose with the mask (I see this ALL THE TIME), and maybe even start low level fining for people who refuse to comply with mask orders (maybe that money could be used to help local businesses that will be effectsd by shutting down). Provide homeless folks masks if you aren't already.
I'm really angry about this, but not surprised. This city seems to have a general tendency to blame it's citizens for not listening when in reality people here aren't exceptional: people never listen. It's your job to get the message out anyway and to legistlate safety nets to handle those who inevitably don't hear you out.
Stop feeling sorry for yourselves, stop pleading, and take some action.
This is a challenging situation but none of these decisions are especially hard to make when we're talking about a public health crisis.
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