SOMERVILLE, MASS. (WHDH) – The City of Somerville on Friday announced an additional two-week delay in moving into Phase 3 of Massachusetts’ economic reopening plan, citing concerns with regional coronavirus case numbers, contact tracing weaknesses, and the risk for a new surge.
Businesses including gyms, museums, outdoor wedding and performance venues, and movie theaters were slated to open on July 20 after an initial delay but the reopening is now on hold until at least Monday, Aug, 3, city officials said.
“It felt like a little bit of a slap in the face cause we have been working really hard to make sure the gym is properly socially distanced,” Jeff Butterworth, owner RX Strength Training, said of the decision.
Prior State guidelines limiting indoor and outdoor gatherings to no more than 10 persons will also remain in effect.
“We are just as eager as our businesses to restart this part of our economy, but the last thing we want is to move so quickly that we risk the kind of deadly surge and damaging reclosures we’re seeing in states that opened too quickly,” Mayor Joe Curtatone said. “While statewide case numbers have been holding fairly steady in Massachusetts as a whole, we’re seeing new case numbers start to tick up modestly in metro area counties. Couple this with growing concerns over the adequacy of the State’s contact tracing effort, which is essential to safe reopening, and the only prudent response is to press pause for the time being.”
Butterworth said he and his staff have taken several steps to ensure they are ready to reopen such as, spacing out gear and adding sanitation materials.
He said it has been financially tough to stay closed and now he fears losing customers to gyms that have already been given the green light to reopen.
“I totally understand why we needed to remain closed, we needed to set protocols in place,” he said. “Everyone is so well versed now in the safety protocols, seems a little bit like an overabundance of caution, almost paranoia to stay closed.”
The 14-day rolling averages in four metro Boston counties are rising. The averages in Middlesex (rising from 42 to 48), Suffolk (from 33 to 39), Norfolk (from 20 to 29), and Bristol (from 22 to 28) counties have all shown modest upticks in new cases according to the New York Times hotspot tracker as of July 16.
“We all know how small confirmed case increases can quickly become exponential with this virus, so we want to, at a minimum, see new 7-day and 14-day rolling averages ideally decreasing but holding steady at a minimum and evidence of promised contact tracing improvements before we take this next step, Curtatone added. “We are holding Somerville to a higher, safer standard.”
Mimi Loureiro owner of O2 Yoga Studio said she agrees with the mayor’s choice.
“I don’t think it would be responsible of us right now,” she said.
The state also opened additional testing locations in Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Marlborough, and New Bedford, because the communities “have continued to see a higher number of residents testing positive for COVID-19.”
“Our hope is that the 7- and 14-day averages over the next two weeks will show that cases are trending down,” Curtatone said. “But if the situation does not improve over the next two weeks, we’ll be glad we delayed.”
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