Brockton is reinstituting a city-wide curfew in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 after it was designated a ‘high risk’ community by the state.
The executive order from Mayor Robert Sullivan, which went into place Saturday, requires all residents and visitors in the city to stay home between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., with some exceptions for essential business and travel.
In a video address, Sullivan said the executive actions are necessary to protect the community, reminding residents that 277 people have died and the city has 4,547 seen cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.
“We have to be proactive to control our own destiny,” he said, stressing the need to crackdown on outdoor parties that have been occurring.
Brockton, previously classified by the state as “yellow” or facing moderate risk of COVID-19, was designated as a “high risk” community this week. Sullivan said the average daily cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people is at 8.5 in Brockton, based on data collected between Aug. 6 and the 19th, stressing that the new red designation is “very dangerous” for the community.
In addition to the curfew, Sullivan also announced that effective Saturday two parks — the Harold D. Bent (Ash Street) Park and James Edgar Playground — in the city will be closed between 4 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily, sites where the mayor said there have been “habitual, offending parties.”
“Habitual parties, noncompliance with social distancing has to stop,” he said. “It has to stop.”
The city is also creating a “COVID-19 Enforcement Team” to combat the spread of the virus and “alert individuals as to the urgency of health and safety precautions.” Fines will be issued to those who do not follow state guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19, the mayor warned, and state police will be assisting with enforcement over the weekend.
“I’m humbly asking you to please adhere to these standards,” Sullivan said. “I don’t take this lightly, issuing these, but I need to. I need to quite honestly, so that we can try to control this spread right now and really really try to minimize this and mitigate this deadly virus.”
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