Gov. Charlie Baker addresses reporters at a State House press conference on June 19, 2020. Photo by Chris Van Buskirk | State House News Service/File
Following weeks of increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases across the state, Gov. Charlie Baker has announced new restrictions on businesses and private gatherings.
Every community in the state will move back to phase 3 step 1 of its reopening plan.
“The days of most people doing most of the right things are probably not enough,” Baker said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “We cannot simply wait for the vaccine to get here.”
The restrictions are indented to allow businesses to stay open while cutting down on opportunities for COVID-19 transmission, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said.
Indoor performance venues and “high-contact” indoor recreational businesses must close. Capacity at gyms, movie theaters, golf facilities, stores, offices, churches, hotel common areas and restaurants will be reduced to 40 percent. The maximum capacity for private gatherings will revert to 50. Gym patrons must wear masks at all times.
Restaurant table capacity will be reduced from 10 guests to six guests and total dining time will be limited to 90 minutes. Masks must be worn unless patrons are actively eating or drinking. Mall food court seating must be closed and musical performances will not be allowed. Customers are encouraged to dine only with members of their household.
Anyone holding a private gathering of more than 25 people must also notify their local board of health.
All office workers must wear masks when not in their workspace and alone and the administration is urging office tenants and landlords to close breakrooms, Polito said.
The changes go into effect Sunday.
When pressed as to why the administration refused to close down indoor dining – even after sharing an anecdote about a couple he knew that appear to have contracted COVID-19 from indoor dining – Baker claimed the chief driver of cases transmitted through indoor dining was people sharing meals with people not in their immediate household. New business closures would put too many out of work, he said.
“The people who really got creamed by [the spring shutdowns] were the people who have to get up and go to work somewhere,” Baker said.
Massachusetts currently has 58,452 active COVID-19 cases according to the latest statistics from the Department of Public Health – 12,566 of which were reported over the last three days. Of those patients, 1,516 are in the hospital and 302 of those are in intensive care. Even more concerning, the average positivity rate among the hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests performed in the state over the last seven days has hit 5.46 percent.
The increases are “not sustainable” and “disturbing,” Baker said.
“This sharp increase is putting strain on our health care system and health care workers,” he said, noting that only a little over one-third of the state’s hospital beds are currently empty.
As of Monday, 11,034 Bay Staters have died from COVID-19.
Public health experts say that any spike in infections from Thanksgiving gatherings will begin to show up this week. Baker said the experience of Thanksgiving shows that Massachusetts residents must “dramatically scale back” plans for other holiday gatherings this year.
The state is also beginning to open field hospitals in regions across the state as fears of strain on hospital capacity mount. Baker announced Monday that hospitals would restrict inpatient elective procedures that can be safely postponed to free up bed space and staff.
Baker has faced pressure in recent weeks to roll back the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan as daily case counts continued to increase. Many Boston-area mayors have been calling for state government action, with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh warning last week that renewed restrictions were “the next step” if the increase in numbers of new cases didn’t begin to decline.
