BOSTON (WHDH) - Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Thursday expressed concern and urged Bostonians to remain diligent in pushing back against the spread of COVID-19 as several states across America continue to report a record number of new coronavirus cases.
Key coronavirus data across the Commonwealth and in Boston — including new positive cases — indicate the state is trending toward containing the disease, while the country’s three most populous states set records for new cases.
“The trend has been pretty low in the city of Boston over the past couple of weeks,” Walsh said during a news conference at City Hall. “I want to congratulate all the people who have recovered from COVID-19.”
RELATED: Massachusetts is ‘on track to contain’ COVID-19 outbreak, model shows
The average number of new daily cases in Boston plummetted by 50 percent from June 4 through June 17 and the past seven days have brought an additional 1.9 percent drop, both of which mark new highs for the city, according to Walsh. ICU hospitalizations have also fallen by 79 percent since the peak of the outbreak in April.
The same cannot be said for Florida, Texas, and California, who all reported more than 5,000 new cases on Wednesday. Health experts are now fearful of “apocalyptic” surges in major cities.
Walsh explained he is proud of the progress Boston has made in stifling the virus but stressed the need to remain diligent to avoid a “full-blown surge” like other states are now seeing.
“If we want to keep this momentum moving forward and the trend going where we’re going, we need continue to be very diligent in our work,” Walsh said. “In contrast to what we’re seeing in the United States, we saw the most new cases of any day since this pandemic started with 36,000 new cases…Several states are in full-blown surges. These are very concerning and a stark reminder of how quickly the virus can spread.”
RELATED: These 25 Bay State communities have the most coronavirus cases
The number of newly reported cases in other states is now hovering close to the peak that the Northeast reached in late April during some of the darkest and deadliest days of the health crisis.
“If you look to the Northeast part of the country, we were hit pretty hard two months ago. Now, we are seeing ourselves in a lot better situation,” Walsh said.
Walsh credited Bay State residents with being understanding about the severity of the pandemic and he asked everyone to continue to frequently wash their hands, remain distant from others, and wear face coverings in public.
“All you have to do is Google online, look up the United States of America, look up coronavirus cases. You’ll see the left side of the country is all dark red and you’ll see the right side of the country is yellow,” Walsh said. “That shows the cases are really low. Those are the things we have to be cognizant of. Do your part to help keep Boston and Massachusetts on track with the recovery.”
Click here for more coronavirus coverage.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)