Roving “sound trucks” were deployed Wednesday in a Massachusetts city to remind residents of vital coronavirus information — including the ongoing need to stay at least 6 feet away from each other, officials said.
The vehicles sent out onto Cambridge streets reiterated Gov. Charlie Baker’s active stay-at-home advisory and the importance of taking basic safety precautions whenever outside, city officials said.
“We strongly urge you to wear face coverings when getting groceries, and when outside walking, biking, or jogging,” the prerecorded messages said. “Please continue to practice social distancing.”
Two of the trucks played the public health reminder in the city’s Cambridgeport and North Cambridge neighborhoods, with a focus on the business squares and parks, city spokesman Jeremy Warnick told The Post.
The decibel level of the messages was not immediately clear, Warnick said.
The new outreach effort by the Cambridge’s Department of Public Works was announced Tuesday by Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and City Manager Louis DePasquale.
“We are in a critical moment in our fight against this pandemic,” Siddiqui and DePasquale said in a joint statement. “In order to continue flattening the curve, we strongly urge residents to continue staying home.”
The trucks were deployed during the program’s first day in neighborhoods where Cambridge officials have received reports of problems with social distancing among residents, as well as areas of increased pedestrian traffic.
The messages will be broadcast in several languages and will stop playing by 6 p.m., city officials said.
Harvard University’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Getty Images
Cambridge has become at least the second municipality in Massachusetts to utilize the trucks as a way to disseminate critical public health information.
Seven vehicles operated by Boston’s Department of Public Works drove through city streets on Sunday while playing similar coronavirus warnings throughout neighborhoods especially rocked by the virus, the Boston Globe reports.
“Stay home as much as you can,” the recordings said, according to the newspaper. “Wash your hands often, cover your face when out and keep your distance from others.”
The mayor of Revere, Brian Arrigo, also used a bullhorn while riding in a city van late last month to alert crowds at Revere Beach about the threats of the virus, the Globe reports.
