Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at a March 24, 2020 press conference. Photo by Matt Stone | Boston Herald/Pool
Gov. Charlie Baker has announced all non-essential businesses will continue to be barred from reopening their physical locations until May 4.
While banks and many other financial service providers are classified as “essential services” along with property managers and building maintenance services, real estate agents are not.
The limit on gatherings of 10 or more will be extended to then, as well.
“We are about to enter the most difficult period with respect to this virus and there is no doubt in my mind, in the lieutenant governor’s mind or the minds of anyone here that you will not continue to go above and beyond,” Baker said at a press conference Tuesday.
New directives from the state Department of Public Health will direct all hotels, motels and Airbnb rooms and units be open only to healthcare workers and those displaced by COVID-19 until May 4. Local officials will be empowered to shut down operators of Airbnbs, hotels and motels who violate the directives, Baker said.
“People should be using some common sense here,” Baker said. “People should not be going on vacation right now.”
Hotels in Greater Boston have been operating at severely reduced capacity, with some even reporting occupancy rates in the single digits.
Baker said continuing social distancing measures is necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the state prepares for a surge in patients needing hospitalization projected to hit Massachusetts between April 7 and April 17.
To meet that need, the state will be turning the DCU Center in Worcester into a 250-bed medical facility to treat patients with lower acuity of symptoms. Baker said it is one of three field medical stations for which the state has requested approval from the federal government through the Massachusetts Emergency Medical Center.
Three tractor trailers with the supplies necessary to set up the DCU Center beds will arrive in Worcester tomorrow, and UMass Medical Center will oversee the day-to-day operations of the field hospital.
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
