Gov Baker Eases Some COVID-19 Restrictions

At a press conference today Governor Charlie Baker announced the state’s public health data is trending down in hospitalizations and the amount of positive COVID-19 cases. Baker said the data shows positive COVID-19 case rates have stabilized and there has been a slight drop in the positivity rate.

With the downward trend Baker announced effective Monday at 5am the stay-at-home advisory and the curfew forcing businesses to close by 9:30pm will be lifted. That includes restaurants, health clubs, movie theaters and other similar businesses. However, the 25% capacity restriction adopted on December 26^th will remain in place until 5am on Monday February 8^th. The stay-at-home advisory encouraged residents to stay at home between 10pm to 5am.

Those restrictions were put in place when the state experienced surging numbers right after Thanksgiving and through the holidays. To stop the spread the state restricted certain hospital procedures to cut down on hospital capacity to free up beds, deployed teams to nursing homes to support vulnerable residents, placed restrictions and capacity limits on employers and businesses and encouraged people to stay home for the holidays and discouraged celebrations with loved ones outside their household.

Baker said “we are not out of the woods by any means but things do appear to be getting a bit better here in Massachusetts.” The average positive test rate has gone from 8.7% in early January to the current rate of 5.7%. A decrease of 33%. The seven-day average of cases is down 30% since its peak in January from 6,120 to 4,528. Hospitalizations are down 10% since they peaked in January. Currently there are 2,209 hospitalizations in Mass down from the January 4^th number of 2,428.

Getting vaccine shots in the arms of residents is a top priority. Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout is in effect until the end of February shooting up frontline workers and the elderly. Baker said he had just visited Gillette Stadium today, the largest vaccine location in Massachusetts. There have been some reports that Fenway Park will also go on line as a vac location soon.

For more information on where and when you can get a vaccination click this link.