Walsh 'Hopeful' About Rescheduled Boston Marathon, But Mindful Of Berlin Marathon Decision

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh on Wednesday was unable to confidently predict that the Boston Marathon will in fact be held on the rescheduled September date he announced last month, saying only that he's "hopeful" the event will occur.

Walsh, in response to a question at his daily press conference, brought up that he had noticed that organizers of the Berlin Marathon, also planned for September, had just canceled that event in Germany.

"To be honest, we haven't had those conversations yet. We started talking about what's going to happen in the next few months and what Boston's going to look like," Walsh said. "I'm sure that the marathon will be part of the conversation. I am hopeful that we will be able to have the marathon because certainly I felt on Monday there was a void in the city of Boston."

Instead of holding the marathon on Patriots Day, officials last month rescheduled it to Sept. 14, the first postponement in the marathon's 124-year history. A Gov. Charlie Baker bill declaring the rescheduled marathon date as a state holiday remains pending before the House Ways and Means Committee.

COVID-19 testing data will help public officials to make informed decisions about planned events, said Walsh, who urged people to stick together in fighting the virus in order to "get back to things we love and enjoy."

Walsh said last month that canceling the Boston Marathon would have cut $211 million in revenue from the regional economy and prevented almost $40 million from reaching area charities.

The Berlin Senate on Tuesday indicated that under a "containment ordinance" all events with more than 5,000 people will be banned until Oct. 24, 2020, after the Berlin Marathon's planned Sept. 27 date.