Massachusetts Expands Reopening Guidelines Starting Today

The Commonwealth enters the next stage of the reopening process today, May 10, as amusement parks can reopen, road races can return and Fenway Park, TD Garden, and Gillette Stadium can increase capacity.

As WWLP/22 News Springfield reports, today marks the beginning of Phase 4, Step 2, which brings more updates and expansions to health and safety guidelines.

Ballparks and sports arenas are now allowed to increase crowds to 25%. That's up from 12%. This will allow Fenway Park to give access to more than 9,000 fans. It also means that capacity at TD Garden will increase to approximately 4,500 spectators.

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Amusement parks, theme parks, and outdoor water parks can now operate at 50-percent capacity after submitting safety plans to the Department of Public Health.

Please keep in mind that even though theme parks in Massachusetts can legally open as of today, Six Flags New England, in Agawam, is waiting until this coming weekend to open. Friday for season pass holders and Saturday for the general public.

Road races plus other large outdoor organized athletic events can return as well. However, staggered starts are required and safety plans must be submitted at the local level.

Have you been going through karaoke withdrawal? Well, get your voice on! Singing can return indoors with strict distancing requirements at restaurants and other businesses.

Phase 4, Step 2 is now in effect statewide except in Boston. With the exception of increasing capacity at the Garden and Fenway, the rest of Phase 4, Step 2 for Boston is delayed until June 1.

About three weeks from today, May 29, the next step in the state's reopening plan continues with gathering limits increasing to 200 people indoors and 250 outdoors, and bars and breweries being able to reopen following the same rules as restaurants.

This may change, but as of now, all businesses can fully reopen on August 1 without restrictions. For more on the story, please visit WWLP's website here.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.