Mayor Michelle Wu downplayed statements from Boston Medical Center’s top executive, saying that there hasn’t been a spike in the number of people loitering outside and sheltering in the emergency department since tents were removed at Mass and Cass.

Wu did say, however, that the city has been targeting “hotspots,” particularly at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square and the Massachusetts Avenue MBTA station, since the city’s encampment ordinance went into effect on Nov. 1.

Her administration spoke regularly with Boston Medical Center representatives in the weeks leading up to enforcement, Wu said, and checked in again on Thursday — after a hospital leader stated that security had to be increased to deal with the Mass and Cass spillover on BMC’s Massachusetts Avenue campus.

“What I’m hearing is that it’s not any different than the situation has been in the past,” Wu told reporters Thursday. “There’s not been a spike or a change in that situation.”

A BMC spokesperson did not respond to a Friday request for comment.

Dr. Alastair Bell, president and CEO of the BMC Health System, said at a Wednesday Board of Health meeting that the number of people loitering on the campus and sheltering in the emergency department had spiked since the tent ban went into effect.

At about 6 a.m. Wednesday, for example, he said there were about 25 people in the ED waiting room. The people weren’t there for clinical reasons, and were “just sheltering,” Bell said.

The “marked increase in loitering and homeless people sheltering at various points,” including parking garages, sidewalks and outside the emergency department, has put a strain on clinical services and led to an increase in security on the campus, Bell said.

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Wu spoke to the challenges of trying to provide alternative shelter, a component of the city’s new encampment ban, for homeless individuals who are distrustful of the shelter system and would rather remain outside in the colder months.

“We’ve really been working person by person by person to understand the challenges,” Wu said. “We’re not going to write anyone off, to think that they don’t want to go inside. It’s just about, how do we find the appropriate placement that works for them?”

The mayor said the city has had some success with targeting other hotspots, at Boston Public Library in Copley Square and the Mass Avenue MBTA station along Southwest Corridor Park, where people were found to be gathering after encampments were cleared in the Mass and Cass zone.

Her administration is working with state officials, the Boston Police Department, and the city’s Public Health Commission, to “prevent any gatherings or potentially encampments from occurring” and determine when to provide outreach services, Wu said.

A Herald photographer observed dozens of people gathered on Melnea Cass Boulevard at 1:30 p.m. Friday.  The group had cleared by the time the photographer returned about an hour later.

A Boston Police spokesman said the people could have walked away, but did not respond further about whether officers were needed to clear the group.

A seemingly homeless man sits with his belongings at the the Boston Public Library. (Photo by Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald)