Featured Health & Environment

Schools to Begin Remotely; Indoor Movie Theaters Reopen [COVID-19 Weekly Update]

The City of Boston reported 15,084 total cases with 334 new cases last week according to Boston’s COVID-19 tracking dashboardThe City reported three new deaths last week with the total number of deaths standing at 746.

According to the state’s new weekly reporting on case counts in each city/town, Boston was shown to have an average daily incidence rate of 6.4 per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period.

Due to planned server migration, the Boston Public Health Commission did not have a weekly report available.

Mayor Marty Walsh announced on Friday during a daily press conference that Boston Public Schools (BPS) will start the school year off completely remotely. Classes will begin on September 21st with no students attending any physical classes. Children with the highest needs will return to in-person learning first on October 1st.

“In every step moving forward, families have a choice whether to opt into a hybrid learning system or stay fully remote,” stated Mayor Walsh.

According to Walsh, parents have had mixed opinions regarding in-person learning with some viewing physical classes as necessary while others voicing reservations about its safety. City officials decided that parents will be allowed to decide whether their children will follow a hybrid or fully remote approach.

Indoor movie theaters began to reopen last week, featuring a mix of popular films from previous years and new releases. AMC Boston Common and Showplace ICON Boston are among those to open at limited capacity to customers.

Under the state’s guidelines, indoor movie theaters may only have 40% of their recorded permitted capacity or twenty-five attendees, whichever is less. Attendees are also required to socially distance, wear face coverings, and snacks must be individually packaged.

As of Sunday, August 23, Massachusetts has 115,741 total confirmed positive cases, according to the most recent data. There were 2,012 new COVID-19 cases reported this week. There have been 8,670 total deaths with 88 new deaths this week.