The city’s proof of vaccination requirement for certain indoor venues could drop in the coming days, according to Mayor Michelle Wu. Her comments on Tuesday came hours before an Appeals Court judge dealt her a setback in her push for a vaccine mandate for city employees. An injunction now blocks her from implementing the policy as most of the city’s 18,000 employees are vaccinated and public safety unions are protesting a mandate as a condition of employment.
Appearing in Roxbury for an affordable housing funding announcement, Wu on Tuesday said the community positivity rate has fallen to 5.4 percent, just above the 5 percent threshold that is one of three key metrics city health officials are using to ascertain how prevalent Covid-19 is in Boston.
“If the numbers continue along the trends that we are seeing, we could see this policy lifted even in the next few days or so,” she said.
The positivity rate is down from 6.9 percent last week, and 32 percent in early January, when the city was in the midst of a surge.
The other two metrics are: Fewer than 95 percent of hospital ICU beds are occupied and fewer than 200 Covid-related hospitalizations per day. ICU capacity is at 90 percent and there are 278 Covid hospitalizations per day, according to Wu. “The hope is we get through the surge and stay low and stay stable,” she said.
The metrics were chosen by public health officials, who cited the pandemic’s effect on hospitals. The hospitalizations refer to people who are hospitalized for Covid and hospitalized for something else and found positive for Covid.
The mayor reiterated her encouragement for residents to get vaccinated and boosted for protection against the harshest symptoms of the virus.
The three thresholds are seen as an “off-switch” and an “on-switch” for the proof of vaccination requirement, according to Wu. The mayor said the virus continues to evolve, with a potential for fall and winter surges.
The proof of vaccination requirement, implemented on Jan. 15, applies to customers and employees of indoor restaurants, bars, nightclubs, gyms, and entertainment venues.
Wu said city officials are in the process of launching a real-time Covid dashboard on the city’s website.
The city’s indoor mask mandate remains in place, Wu said, citing public health officials who wanted more evidence of a downward trend in coronavirus numbers. But at the state level, the Department of Public Health loosened its advisory for face-coverings.
Individuals don’t have to mask up in all indoor spaces anymore, according to the advisory. But people, even if they’re fully vaccinated, should wear a mask indoors if they have a weakened immune system, or if an underlying condition puts them at high risk for disease.
Masks remain required on public transportation, such as the MBTA, and in hospital settings.
State public health officials said last week that the mask mandate for public schools K-12 could be lifted at the end of the month, though Boston is parting ways with the state there, too.
The city and state are also faring differently over employee vaccination mandates. While Gov. Baker notched a win over the State Police union when a state employee relations board dismissed the union’s objections, Wu is still battling public safety unions in court.
Asked Tuesday if there were any updates to the legal battle, which involves firefighters’ Local 718, the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, and the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, Wu said negotiations remain underway, saying, “We continue to be in talks with all of our unions.”
Last week, Wu and the Dorchester-based Boston Teachers Union reached an agreement on Covid policies. When transmission is low, unvaccinated union members will be able to submit proof of two negative tests per week. When transmission rates are higher, “unvaccinated members will not be allowed in school buildings, but may use some accrued time as an alternative to being placed on unpaid administrative leave,” the Wu administration said in a release.
Eighty-four percent of union members signed off on the agreement, which still needs approval from the Boston School Committee. Most teachers are already vaccinated, according to city officials.
Representatives from the other unions appeared before city councillors on Friday in a hearing to discuss the employee vaccine mandate. The union representatives distanced themselves from the small band of anti-vaccine protesters seeking to harass and intimidate the mayor outside of her Roslindale home.
John Soares of Local 718 told councillors that Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s policy for the city’s 18,000 employees included a weekly testing option for employees who chose not to be vaccinated. Nearly all unions signed the agreement, he said, and it worked successfully to control Covid spread. Soares said Wu revoked the agreement and removed the testing option. Ninety-five percent of firefighters are vaccinated, he said.
