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Boston to lag behind state on some re-opening dates; sets Aug. 22 as possible Fully Reopened Boston Day
By adamg on Tue, 04/27/2021 - 4:27pm
Acting Mayor Kim Janey said today that while Boston will start easing some Covid-19 restrictions on Friday, along with the rest of the state, it will lag behind the state on others by three months because of the city's relatively high numbers of vulnerable populations and complex business districts.
In a press conference today, Janey said that even though the state will end its formal outdoor masks-all-the-time requirement on Friday, she is encouraging Bostonians to continue wearing them, because they're a cheap and effective way to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Janey said Boston will allow indoor and outdoor stadiums, arenas and ballparks to increase capacity to 25% on May 10.
road races and other large events can return on June 1, as can indoor singing, with social distancing.
On June 19, the city will increase maximum capacity limits indoors to 200 people and that bars and beer gardens will be able to re-open without having to serve food. Table capacity will be increased to ten, but customers will still have to leave after 90 minutes. Festivals and street fairs at 50% of their previous capacity.
If all goes well, Janey said, Aug. 22 is the day Boston will fully re-open everything that had been closed because of Covid-19, in particular, clubs, dance halls and, yes, ball pits, although she cautioned that will depend on the data, which, as of today, is trending in the right direction. She said new Boston Covid-19 cases have dropped 41% over past two weeks, positivity rate is now 3.7%, more than 55% of Bostonians over 16 have gotten at least one shot.
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Comments
I can only assume that with
I can only assume that with Boston going to 8/22 for reopening that Somerville's might be sometime around 8/2022?
Soooo... do we have to wear
Soooo... do we have to wear masks outside or nah? I get the whole “in crowded outdoors thing” but like...
y’all need to be more clear about this. Joey & K in the White House are like nah, Charlie B is like nah, but like Mayor J is like “nah, but it’s still a good idea”... DAWG. Which is it? Y’all really about to lose the inch of trust I gave you during this panorama...
Are you asking legally, morally, or practically?
When you ask “Do I have to wear a mask?” Are you asking whether or not the law requires you to wear one? Whether it’s sensible to wear one to protect your own health? Whether wearing one is the decent and morally right thing to do to protect others? Whether there’s any practical chance that the government will fine you for not wearing one?
Wow
You're...amazing.
This is wise.
Too many narrow crowded sidewalks in Boston to allow for walking 6 feet apart from unmasked people.
dupe
dupe
I had to look up "ball pits"
It was not a sexual partner as I had anticipated...
Magoo sez
Well. Magoo is sort of done with this site. Not sure what it is but hasn’t seem up to par lately nor have the commentary. Magoo out for now. Magoo.
Adieu ...
...and good riddance.
This isn’t an airport...
You don’t need to announce your departure.
Is that why Aer Lingus is
Is that why Aer Lingus is always only on the arrivals board?
Good luck taking your shtick on the road
Byeeeeeeeee!
Cool
I look forward to voting against her in November.
I’m a Boston resident and I’m
I’m a Boston resident and I’m done with outdoor masks. I’m vaccinated. So are the majority who want to be. The science says outdoors is safe. So what is the point? I’ll happily wear them in stores and on the T but enough is enough.
So you don’t infect other people.
Vaccination has not been proven yet to prevent that. Boston rates are still high. Boston is very crowded. In many places it’s impossible to keep 6 feet away from other people.
That is the point.
But he's right
And he can do a little dance to celebrate making a comment that was factually correct and not demeaning. Why should he be walking around, outside, in warm weather, without a mask? So long as he's wearing them inside or when he's around a bunch of people (doubtful) he'll do not harm to anyone around him.
Vaccination has not been
People in these debates too often play the "science has proven it yet" card, as if the absence of evidence is evidence that you should do the opposite. If it weren't for that nonsense, we could have gotten vaccinated last summer and fall, and hundreds of thousands of people would not be dead.
...never heard of the outcome bias, I see?
"Of course it was ok for me to drive drunk - I didn't hit anyone with my car, did I?"
The whole point of waiting to see what the science says is that we had no idea if the vaccines would save more lives than they killed before we had done proper testing. By your logic, we all might as well have started taking hydroxychloroquine right away - after all, that might have worked and if it did, it would save lives, right?
One caveat
Two of three rule: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/well/live/covid-masks-outdoors.html
I mostly agree with you BUT you can still get infected and pass it to nonvaccinated people or people who can't be fully vaccinated (e.g. people with immune disorders).
So do carry a mask with you. If you get into an area that is overly "peopley", consider putting it on.
I always have a mask on me
I always have a mask on me and do wear it on crowded sidewalks but even that is extremely low risk.
your stance is in line with the current guidelines
and nobody has ever gotten a citation for standing outside without a mask so long as they’re reasonably socially distanced* so what exactly is the beef? are you complaining because you wanted it to happen sooner?
*source: me, who’s been taking his daughter to the bremen street park since last year
Anecdata, but...
...I know one fully vaccinated person who just tested positive. So there's that.
That "want to be" should concern you, because you're still sharing air and space and viruses with those who don't "want to be". The daily new cases in the US are dropping, but they're still high, in the "likely to evolve vaccine-evading strains" range as I understand it. Getting vaccinated AND wearing masks right now will help us to get that daily number to drop like a rock, and that's when vaccinated people will really have a measure of safety. Right now, it's precarious.
Yeah no
It is not an “effective way at preventing Covid” as per the cdc. Has she been to the esplanade or common this year? Nobody is wearing masks. I’m certainly not wearing one. I choose science and freedom after a year of absolute misery.
That's why I don't wear pants
That's why I don't wear pants when I go out in public. I'm not letting the government tell ME what to do!
Lmao
Sounds like you have some serious issues if that’s the case.
That whooshing sound...
...is the point flying over your head.
Actually
It’s my point going over your head.
interesting juxtaposition
it seems - not just in this comment section, but in my experience on and offline - the people who complain most loudly about the mask mandates are the people who complain most loudly about how long we’ve been “forced” to wear masks
I've tried not to complain TOO loudly
....because I sure don't want to be lumped in with the people who do, but as a person who has recently realized he is a little hard of hearing and has been coasting for years on a combination of slight lip-reading and not having everything be muffled, I am REALLY looking forward to the end of the masks-everywhere era.
That is a legitimate concern
I know from family experience and from talking to audiologists that there are a lot of hearing-impaired people out there who read lips and who don’t even realize that they are reading lips— the brain is that good at putting all the different inputs together. A world with everyone masked is quite limiting to those people. If you spend a lot of time around people with hearing impairment, you can get masks with a clear plastic patch. They help to some degree, but they fog up if the ambient temperature is at all cool.