Massachusetts Governor Baker Announces New COVID-19 Restrictions
Governor Charlie Baker announced new restrictions to combat the spike in coronavirus cases in Massachusetts recently, including curbing private gatherings, a curfew for businesses, and a stricter mandatory mask regulation.
The restrictions go into effect on Friday, November 6th, 2020.
As of last week, Massachusetts had 121 cities and towns that had been placed in the high risk category for the spread of COVID-19.
“What we should not do to deal with these trends is shut down our economy, or close our schools to deal with this,” said the Governor in a Monday press conference.
“Schools are not spreaders here, or anywhere else. It’s been proven now, over and over and over again, by real-life experience and longitudinal studies.”
“Too many of us have become complacent in our daily lives,” Baker continued.
Massachusetts is “doing much better than many other states,” but the Governor says that the Commonwealth still has work to do.
Baker is asking all residents to stay home between the hours of 10pm and 5am, unless they are going to work or running essential errands.
Any entertainment venues – indoor recreation, casinos, theaters, for example – must close by 9:30pm.
Restaurants are being ordered to stop serving in-person dining at 9:30pm until further notice, takeout and delivery can continue past the in-person closing time. Liquor sales will also end at 9:30pm until further notice.
Gathering limits are being reduced to 10 people indoors at private residences, and 25 people outdoors at private residences.
Everyone above the age of five years must wear a face mask while in public. There are no exceptions to this mandatory order, according to the Governor.