Boston Extends Reopening Pause One Day, Advances to Phase 3 Step One February 1

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston extends COVID reopening pause and clears Phase 3 Step One launch for February 1. Mayor Martin Walsh announced Tuesday that the city's pandemic reopening pause, originally set to expire January 27, would be extended through January 31 before moving into Phase 3 Step One, allowing indoor gyms, movie theaters, museums, bowling alleys, and similar venues to reopen at 25 percent capacity. Boston reported 51,506 cumulative cases and 1,133 deaths as of Monday, with a citywide positivity rate of 7.2 percent, down from 7.5 percent the prior week. A new mass vaccination site was announced at the Reggie Lewis Track Center in Roxbury, set to open the following week alongside an existing Fenway Park site, with residents 75 and older becoming eligible for vaccination starting that week. Boston Public Health Commission Chief Marty Martinez said roughly 2,600 first responders had been vaccinated citywide through city-run clinics, and cautioned that federal dose supply to the state remains the binding constraint on the pace of distribution. A new COVID testing site at the Strand Theater in Upham's Corner, a partnership with Brookside Community Health Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and two Jamaica Plain health centers, began operations the day before the briefing.