NEWS - Mass Reopening Plan - Paused
The Governor, after instituting new rules regarding quarantining (is that a word?) last week, this week decided that we needed to simply pause the whole process, reduce the size of public and private gatherings, and reassess how we can continue the downward direction that most of the 'numbers' seem to be heading. So, effective 8/11/20, outdoor gatherings are limited to 50 (from 100) - indoor gatherings will continue to be limited to 25. Restaurants that serve alcohol will be required to also serve food (not just bar food). Bars will remain closed.
Even more interesting, and less well defined, is a new 'inter-agency' COVID-19 Enforcement and Intervention Team. This team will do targeted enforcement of high risk areas and work to further reduce public exposure to the virus. Lastly, the list of states that are exempt from the 14 day quarantine order now no longer includes Rhode Island.
With Phase 3 'paused', we truly have no timeline that gets us to Phase 4.. There is evidence that the Governor will wait for a widely available vaccine AND good numbers before he'll announce Phase 4. The 'New Normal' is farther away than I had hoped. Ugh.
Eastham had no new cases of COVID-19 this week, keeping our total at 14. All of Cape Cod has only had 1800 cases, up 43 from last week. Cape Cod Hospital has no COVID patients.
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Below is Gov Baker's chart, redrawn (again) so we can track our progress. I'll try to maintain this chart so that the key dates remain front and center. The Governor has said that Phase 3 will be 'substantially' longer than the prior phases. Also, I've been wondering what the 'New Normal' is going to look like. The chart below is my tracking of our progress
. Check out the full list at 'Reopening Massachusetts'.
