Beverly Mayor: 'This Is The Time To Think Of Others'

BEVERLY, MA — While changing state metrics for what constitutes a "high-risk" community for coronavirus spread took Beverly out of the "red" zone, rates in the city continue to rise, leading Beverly Mike Cahill to send a message to the community urging compliance with the state's new stay-at-home advisory.

Saying "this is the time to think of others and of our whole community," Cahill cited the spike in the city's rates from this summer in asking residents to adhere to a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew each night, which Gov. Charlie Baker issued last week in a directive that also included closing most businesses at 9:30 p.m. and mandatory mask-wearing orders while in public even when social distancing is possible.

"If this sounds like a lot to you, please think about this: Throughout the summer, we averaged about seven new COVID-19 positive residents per week," Cahill said. "This number has gone up consistently over the last several weeks, and we actually averaged over seven new cases per day this past week.

"And while the trends are that more younger people are driving this trend and fortunately, to date, not getting as sick, we still need to guard against widespread transmission — both asymptomatic and symptomatic — leading to more among us who are vulnerable to this virus catching it and getting seriously ill."

Cahill said for Beverly residents the mask order includes: "When you are out walking, jogging, hiking, or biking, whether or not you are within 6 feet of others. This includes all our roads and sidewalks, parks, beaches and open spaces."

He also noted that the order states those carpooling into work should wear masks the entire time while in the vehicle.

Beverly's rate of cases per 100,000 people rose last week from 11.8 to 14.8, according to the state report released on Friday, with 103 positive tests over the past 14 days. Under previous metrics, cases about 8.0 per 100,000 would have designated it a "high-risk" city for community spread.

"So, please, we all need to think of our neighbors and loved ones who have gotten sick or died from COVID-19 already," Cahill said. "We all need to think of those people we right now can act to prevent from getting sick or dying, and we all need to think of our police and firefighters, our nurses and doctors, our teachers, our food service and cleaning and other essential service employees — and all of their family members."

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