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Restaurants get OK for outdoor dining starting Monday; stores, hotels and some camps can also re-open
By adamg on Sat, 06/06/2020 - 1:31pm
Declaring that Covid-19 numbers in Massachusetts have been dropping dramatically in recent weeks, Gov. Baker and other state officials said restaurants and other retail establishments, as well as hotels, nail salons, day camps, playgrounds and outdoor pools, can also start re-opening.
All are subject to creation of Covid-19 response plans and rely on the public to continue covering their faces, practicing social distancing and washing their hands frequently, officials said.
Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy said that step 2 of this second phase of re-opening the state's economy will include more limited indoor dining at restaurants. Exactly when that happens will depend on how Covid-19 statistics do, he said.
Baker added that come Monday, hospitals, health-care centers and doctors can re-start preventative-health procedures, including colonoscopies. Cosmetic surgery, though, still not allowed.
Baker acknowledged a phased re-opening is a difficult process, but said that when coupled with continued testing and contact tracing, remains the best way to ensure we don't have to take a step back in August or September.
Baker added that people who can work remotely may still continue to do so.
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Comments
Yay Hotels
Never was so happy to hear hotels will reopen. So many people in my town are out of work because the hotel industry shut down.
Sorry.. I go to the Post Office every day for work (to mail something) and there's a food line at the Chelsea Collaborative (Yes I know it moved like a few days ago). Its so sad to see, I know many of those folks are furloughed hotel workers. I hope to see the line get shorter and shorter as the weeks go on and people go back to work.
It breaks my heart every time I see it. I just want to walk to the ATM and take out a stack of 20s and pass them out, I just feel so awful. (it really is an afternoon mood killer for me.. every single time)
But not to lessen my service worker friends.. glad to see restaurants will allow table service again, which means wait staff can come back. It'll be tough and limited but it's a start.
I'm also glad to see al fresco dining being big now. I hope it stays. I lived down south for a few years in the 90s, and your restaurant isn't popular if you DON'T have some kind of outdoor area (either dining or a patio). Let's hope this trend continues.. I'd love to eat at an Einstein's type place with a huge outdoor area here in Boston during the summer. I spent many summer evenings on their patio when I lived there. I'd love to create that tradition here.
Chelsea Collaborative
I made a donation to Chelsea Collaborative after reading "The Virus's Tale" in the Globe about how hard Chelsea was hit. I am sure that today's announcement is welcome news to many families, and am also sure that economic recovery for the community will take awhile.
https://www.chelseacollab.org/
They should close Newbury to
They should close Newbury to traffic and allow restaurants to set up patios.
Thanks, Lord Baker
For spending any part of your time concerned about whether or not one adult can give another adult a boob job.
I don't see you writing letters to state police officers informing them that their employment is terminated on budgetary and moral grounds. Why isn't that done?
I am guessing
That your position is that the government has absolutely no business regulating the practice of medicine... or restaurant sanitation. Or whether or not food packages contain what their labels say they contain. Or what kind of concrete is used to build football stadiums...
Stadiums only get built
Because government pays for it.
When will you learn that they are the cancer?
Do you get paid to miss the point professionally?
Someone this good at it shouldn’t do it for free.
If someone is working in Boston next week
What are the best options for lunch that do not involve delivery or a long wait?
Hmm I'd suggest bringing your
Hmm I'd suggest bringing your own lunch or buying lunch from a place nearby wherever in Boston you are. Maybe call ahead if you aren't sure they'll be open or don't want to stand in line. There are a lot of nice parks; bring a blanket, you can have a picnic
App Ordering
Order from the Apps. Either the store's own App (i.e. McDonald's or BK) or a delivery service. Many allow ahead orders for later delivery.
At least with the App you aren't standing in line and know where your food is.
If not, I'd try to shift your lunch to before 11:30 or after 2pm.
The apps give the restaurants
The apps give the restaurants a raw deal. Pick up the phone and call.
Near South Station, I would
Near South Station, I would suggest Al's - corner of South and Essex. You can order in advance for pickup.
Edit - I did that one day I had to go to my very deserted office to pick something up. If you're talking about "at the beginning of a stage of reopening", I would recommend bagging your own lunch for a while, or expecting a wait as consumer levels and restaurant/staffing levels adjust to each other.
Is the South Station food
Is the South Station food court open at all?
Al's is the only reason I
Al's is the only reason I miss working downtown
Boston is a big place. Where are you?
I've been ordering for pick up at India Quality in Kenmore which is one of the best Indian restaurants in the city. When you go in they have a table with bags. Take the one with your order.
Never a line or busy, which is too bad considering how good they are.
Child care
I had seen some reports that child care services might be opening soon. This is fraught, as most providers and parents I speak to think the new rules are impossible to comply with. We're seeing a lot of people trying to find nanny shares because they either don't want to go back to daycare yet or because their daycare closed or reduced spots.
Our daycare closed permanently and we can't find one yet that is affordable to us. We make above average money but we can't afford something more than our housing costs. We're both able to work from home, but we're going a bit crazy working two full time jobs at the same time. We're fortunate to be in the position we are. We're grateful at that, but it's still totally bonkers.
Families First Coronavirus Relief Act
I'm wondering how this reopening is going to affect employees using the FFCRA on the basis of needing to care for children whose usual school/child care is unavailable. Since child care places will be allowed to open, but so many won't be, will employers start telling people they are no longer eligible and have to go back to work? I fortunately have a flexible job and a spouse with the same, but the using camps and tutoring and things we usually would have using have been called off for the summer. Would an employer currently paying someone FFCRA for a similar situation say they're SOL and have to go back to work and just throw their kid into whatever activities they can find, (even if these don't necessarily meet their kids' needs and might not actually have enough open spots for all the kids who need them)?
Just a reminder that
Just a reminder that something microscopic has the complete power to control us humans and reinforcing just how we "think" we are so great a species.
Wake me up when the Galway
Wake me up when the Galway House opens.