The coronavirus outbreak may be able to bring public life to a standstill. But it can’t stop Boston from being Boston.

Midway through a press conference Wednesday afternoon on the city’s response to the pandemic, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was joined outside City Hall by several city councilors and staffers — and, for a fleeting few moments, a Bostonian who lit up social media.

“Iconic,” Medford City Councilor Zac Bears wrote, posting a clip of the Boston Bruins sweatshirt-wearing man who bemusedly wandered with a friend into the backdrop of Walsh’s live shot.

More gleeful reactions on Twitter followed suit.


“So Boston,” proclaimed Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman, echoing the sentiment of many, many others on social media.

“The true Mayor of Boston and also some guy named Marty Walsh,” wrote another.

Some invoked Casey Affleck’s famous “Saturday Night Live” parody of a Dunkin’ customer, while others channeled the unexpected guest’s inner thoughts.

“Ah, it’s just the mayah,” said one tweet. “Wheyah do we pay the pahking ticket?”

Others simply celebrated the brief distraction from the serious coronavirus crisis.

“The guy in the Bruins sweatshirt is the hero we all needed during these hard times,” wrote one Twitter user.

Drone footage captures the nearly bare streets of Boston