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Charlie Baker
The Massachusetts Municipal Association has gotten a copy of at least some of Gov. Baker's planned orders for easing pandemic restrictions, which he will announce tomorrow at his daily press conference. Read more.
Gov. Baker today announced a four-phase plan for re-opening the state's economy after May 18, although he cautioned that the plan could quickly change if Covid-19 spikes in particular areas or businesses. Read more.
A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction that bars Gov. Baker from continuing to shut gun shops because, after all, come on, Charlie, Second Amendment. And that goes for you too, Maura. Read more.
The Herald reports Gov. Baker isn't going to let golfers cut to the head of the re-opening line, and some golfers are so mad they might go rogue and start golfing anyway.
At his daily press briefing today, Gov. Baker said western Massachusetts and the Cape are showing good, declining Covid-19 hospitalization rates, but that numbers continue to go up in Worcester and the Fall River/New Bedford area and remain flat in the Boston area. Read more.
At his daily press briefing today, Gov. Baker said the state contact-tracing effort is now nearing the 1,000 people it had hoped to hire and that one early statistic from calls shows the importance of social distancing: Officials had expected every person who tests positive for Covid-19 to provider the names of ten people they'd been in close contact with for followup calls, but the average is just 2. Read more.
WBZ reports Gov. Baker says any decision on reopening the state's links will have to wait for a recommendation from the new Reopening Advisory Board he announced yesterday. That board is scheduled to make its industry-by-industry recommendations by May 18 - based on a reduction in Covid-19 cases and hospitalization, which, the governor said today, we've yet to see.
Gov. Baker announced today he's extending the ban on "non-essential" businesses and on public gatherings until at least May 18, when an advisory board he named today will deliver a report on how various types of businesses can re-open under the new normal. Read more.
WBUR reports. At his press briefing today, Gov. Baker said 56% of the state's Covid-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for the elderly.
Gov. Baker said today he will announce a decision about whether to extend or amend the current state of emergency "later on this week." Read more.
Gov. Baker said today - again - that he does not want to even talk about how to re-open shut parts of the state's economy until after we see some consistent data that we are past the current Covid-19 surge, like declining Covid-19 hospitalization rates for a couple of weeks. Read more.
Massachusetts today reported 3,079 new Covid-19 cases, the largest number since the state began testing in March - and far more than the 1,745 cases reported just the day before. Read more.
Gov. Baker declined to say today whether he will consider making barbershops and hair salons "essential" services - because he said it's time to start thinking about creating "rules of the road" that will allow such places to re-open if they take particular steps. Read more.
In response to a reporter's question, Gov. Baker took a moment out of his daily Covid-19 briefing to say he opposes the Trump administration's attempt to ban all immigration. "It doesn't make any sense and I don't think it makes us any safer."
Gov. Baker made the announcement at his daily press conference; said there's no way to assure a safe environment for all students. Read more.
At his daily press conference today, Gov. Baker said he will announce a decision on whether to order public schools shut for the remainder of the school year "shortly." Read more.
At his daily press conference, today at a new, 94-bed Cape Cod field hospital, Gov. Baker said he and other Massachusetts leaders will decide when Massachusetts is ready to ease current Covid-19 restrictions, based on public-health concerns, rather than having it imposed from above. Read more.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced this afternoon that Massachusetts has joined New Jersey and five other states in what could be a coordinated effort to slowly re-open each state's economies on a timetable dictated by public-health concerns rather than the whims of the president's daughter and son-in-law: Read more.