Update: Five new COVID-19 cases Wednesday

Baker puts new rules on venues like restaurants limited to 25 percent occupancy; hospital procedures on hold.

5
Gov. Charlie Baker is once again easing restrictions in light of improved COVID numbers and has lifted travel restrictions, as well. -State House News Service

Updated Dec. 23

Gov. Charlie Baker is limiting the occupancy in the state’s restaurants and other public venues like casinos, houses of worship, museums, libraries, and movie theaters to 25 percent occupancy for two weeks as of Dec. 26.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Baker said he believes the limits will slow the spread of COVID-19 in the Bay State with many people in Massachusetts not working between Christmas and New Year’s and students home from school.

“Here we are coming into this second big season with respect to the holidays and we think it’s critically important for people to hear us when we say: People really need to spend this in a very conservative, careful, and cautious way,” Baker said. He said the reductions will “dramatically limit the number of people” in those places at any one time. “It sends a pretty loud signal that people need to take this seriously,” he added.

Island restaurant owner JB Blau reacted to the regulations pointing out how few cases have been linked to food establishments. “We understand the governor’s desire to protect the hospitals in Massachusetts, but with restaurants and retail stores accounting for such small numbers of clusters it’s frustrating to be targeted,” he wrote in a text message. “This is 2020 and we will just go along with the new regulations and we hope people continue to support [restaurants] with takeout all winter so we can keep the lights on.”

The new regulations come as five new COVID-19 cases were reported on Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday.

The hospital has conducted a total of 9,820 tests since March as of Wednesday. Of those 337 have come back positive, 9,380 negative, and 103 pending results. 

TestMV has conducted 27,441 tests since June. Of those, 156 have tested positive, 25,638 negative, 1,647 are pending results.

The town of Aquinnah has also conducted its own tests. In total, the town has conducted 355 tests of which zero have come back positive, 348 negative, and seven pending results.

Of all the Island’s 481 confirmed cases, 246 are female and 234 are male. Of those cases, 119 are in their 30s, 83 are in their 20s, 71 are in their 50s, 70 are in their 40s, 81 are younger than 20, 39 are in their 60s, and 19 are older than 70. Data on one other case was not available.

Baker implored people not to gather as they typically would for the holidays, and again pointed to the sharp uptick in cases after Thanksgiving. Though there’s been a leveling off of cases, Baker said he’s worried about a repeat of what happened after Thanksgiving.

“The holidays are upon us and I think from our point of view, the look in the rearview mirror of the impact that Thanksgiving had, made it important for us to put a message out and some guidance changes out prior to the next holiday break,” he said.

Schools are out beginning Thursday and won’t return until Jan. 4. Travel restrictions remain in place.

Baker gave his reason for waiting until Dec. 26. “The main reason we picked the day after Christmas instead of the day before Christmas was: We know that many people, hopefully, will participate in a faith service of some kind safely on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day,” Baker said. “It’s perfectly possible to do that safely.”

The two-week limit is directly targeted at the holiday season, Baker said.

Hospitals have also been asked to curtail any elective or non-emergency procedures during the same time period. Gatherings have been limited to 10 people inside and 25 people outside under the new restrictions.

Asked if he thinks the restrictions will just be in place for two weeks, Baker said time will tell. “I think this is a much more appropriate way to deal with it than to just lock everything down, tell everyone to stay home,” he said.

Updated to include today’s numbers.

5 COMMENTS

  1. He might as well close the businesses because with the curfew and current restrictions there is not a small business in the state that can survive this.

  2. It’s an EMERGENCY you no nothings. It’s so important we have to wait four days to implement it. We MUST let Wal Mart and Target finish out the holiday season before we can shut it all down. Covid-19 carries a calendar, tape measure and clock wherever it goes, so BEWARE!!

  3. Hey J B and all those liquor supporters for the town of Tisbury. Has anyone noticed other than me that with the limitations on indoor outdoor dining … That liquor hasn’t drawn the crowds to main street. It’s been good old ingenuity.
    As for restrictions of another 2 weeks.
    Aaaaa take out service in many of my favorite places still have their signs out “Open For Business”

    • I’m not sure I see a connection- there aren’t crowds anywhere during a pandemic. Of course takeout will dominate, particularly when indoor dining is essentially shut down?

    • Dana- One thing I have noticed is that the “character” of the town was not changed by hordes of drunks roaming the streets after we passed a reasonable liquor law.

Comments are closed.