WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Restaurants in Massachusetts are getting back to business as the state moves forward with the reopening process.
The Bay State entered Phase 3, Step 2 of the reopening process Monday, meaning restaurants will no longer have a percent capacity limit and they will be permitted to host musical performances, Gov. Charlie Baker announced.
After a year of COVID-19 restrictions, restaurants like Mexicali in Worcester said they are ready to get back to normal as soon as possible.
“A little more here and there, the weekend was very good too. I mean I think people are just starting to get back into the routine of starting to kind of go out again,” said Mexicali Assistant Manager Giselle Mejan.
Anthony Caldwell, the owner of 50 Kitchen in Dorchester said he is excited the limits are being lifted.
“A hundred percent capacity,” he said. “I’m excited, you know restaurants have been waiting a whole year with the mask and the quarantine.”
However, customers are still required to maintain a six-foot distance and can remain in place for up to 90 minutes. Tables are also limited to six people.
“Even if we can bring everybody in we still need six feet, so it really isn’t full capacity,” Mejan said. “We still have to follow guidelines.”
The capacity limits at many other businesses across Massachusetts rose from 40 percent to 50 percent, and several sectors such as indoor performance venues and recreational activities are now allowed to reopen.
Some say this move makes sense with the vaccine rollout underway. But, the nation’s top experts on infectious diseases say not so fast.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who led Massachusetts General Hospital’s Division of Infectious Diseases before being tapped to helm the CDC, said Monday that she is worried about a “potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic.”
“With these new statistics, I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19,” Walensky said. “I understand the temptation to do this. Seventy thousand cases a day seemed good compared to where we were just a few months ago. But we cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day, 2,000 daily deaths.”
Baker said 1.2 million Massachusetts residents have received first doses of the vaccine and 550,000 have received second doses, many of whom are among the groups most vulnerable to COVID-19. The state’s hospitalization rate, case counts and daily case rates have all gone down over the past month, too.
“It made sense to make some adjustments with respect to reopening,” he said. “But, obviously we are going to look at the data as we go forward.”
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