Updated 4:40 pm
Gov. Charlie Baker is expected to release the state’s four-phase plan to reopen the economy as soon as May 18, a date many Island businesses and town officials are eagerly awaiting.
While May 18 is the goal to begin reopening, Baker stressed the plan depends on “the facts on the ground” with regard to COVID-19 and if public health data showed positive trends. On Wednesday, the Department of Public Health reported 174 new deaths — a jump from the 33 reported on Tuesday. There have been 5,315 total deaths across the state.
DPH also reported there were 1,165 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 bringing the state total to 80,497. Massachusetts has performed 410,032 tests with only four percent of cases hospitalized.
“I would love to be able to reopen everything tomorrow,” Baker said Wednesday at his daily press briefing. “That would be an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.”
Baker said reopening the economy would require patience noting that there are still more than 3,000 people hospitalized with COIVD-19. He did not give specific details on which businesses would be allowed to open during phase one, but said those businesses will be organizations that don’t have a lot of close contact with customers.
“This isn’t going to be a situation or circumstance where on May 18 every business in Massachusetts that’s currently closed is going to be permitted to open,” he said. “It’s not going to work like that.”
A post on the state’s website reads: “public health metrics will determine when the first phase of reopening begins, as well as when it is safe to move into later phases. If public health metrics worsen, the state may need to return to an earlier phase.”
On the Island, businesses are waiting with bated breath as to when, how, and if they can open up shop.
“Unfortunately there isn’t a firm definition of what those businesses are in phase one,” Oak Bluffs Association executive director Christine Todd told The Times in a phone interview. “Everybody’s still sort of in the dark.”
Todd added that while Baker’s release of the four phase plan outline didn’t have all the details, it was a positive start. She said some businesses in town are cleaning and preparing to be able to open, but there are still many unknowns.
Todd also said she would like to see uniformity at least among the down-Island towns if not the entire Island and look at bulk purchasing materials such as extra picnic tables, trashcans, sanitation stations, and personal protective equipment.
“There’s so many unanswered questions and it’s frustrating because people want to have the answers now and plan accordingly and we just don’t,” Todd said.
On Wednesday, the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital reported that a total of 607 people had been tested with 23 positive cases, 573 negative, and eleven pending results. The hospital also reported zero hospitalizations for COVID-19.
Those numbers mark an eight day stretch of no new confirmed cases at the hospital and an increase of 82 tests since May 6.
In the past week, the Martha’s Vineyard boards of health confirmed four additional patients tested positive for viral antibodies and a separate patient tested off-Island was positive for a regular test bringing the Island’s total to 28. Boards of health spokesperson and Tisbury health agent Maura Valley confirmed three antibody test patients were no longer symptomatic.
Valley clarified that the antibody tests are now classified as “probable positives.”
Of the four antibody positive tests, all four are female. Two are aged 50-59, one is aged 40-49, and another is aged 20-29.
Of the 24 confirmed cases on the Island 13 are female and 11 are male. Seven of the cases are aged 50-59 years old, seven cases are 60-69 years old, five are 20-29 years old, two are 30-39 years old, two are 20 years old or younger, and one is 40-49.
Updated to include current state numbers and new Island cases. — Ed.