Boston had the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in a month on Wednesday, with 46 new cases reported.
"It's the highest day we've had in a month," Mayor Marty Walsh said in a virtual address to the New England Council on Thursday morning. "So we're monitoring those situations and doing tracing... Yesterday's a little high, but trends are still heading in the right direction."
Boston now stands at 13,624 total cases and 712 deaths. Nearly 9,400 patients have fully recovered.
The one-day spike comes as the city prepares to enter Phase 3 of the state's reopening on Monday, one week later than most of the rest of the state.
"We took an extra week because of our size and unique needs, our population and workforce, our commercial and cultural sectors," Walsh said. "We've been developing additional guidelines and supports. We had a meeting this morning and we're going to take the time to implement this correctly."
He said guidelines for indoor fitness, museums and cultural spaces and outdoor events will be shared in multiple languages and the city will be hosting online workshops for indoor and outdoor events.
"What we don't want to see in Boston is what they're experiencing in Florida, Texas, Wisconsin and California," Walsh said. "I don't want to say we have it under control, but we want to keep the numbers low. The future of our economy depends on this."
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Walsh said he was "disappointed" to hear President Donald Trump and others politicize the virus by threatening to cut school funding for schools that don't welcome students back to the classroom in the fall.
"We don't want to put the economy ahead of people's lives," he said. "We're going to continue to take precautions."
Walsh said it's important as Boston goes through the phases of reopening that residents continue to social distance, wear masks or face coverings in public and practice good hygiene.
"We're still in the middle of this fight, and it's important to understand that. Now more than ever it's important to stay vigilant. The virus is still here, and we need to continue to remember that. Reopening does not mean relaxing these precautions."
