Boston has an extra week to prepare for the reopening of Phase 3 businesses like movie theaters, gyms, museums and more, and that’s exactly the way Mayor Martin Walsh wants it.
Walsh said Tuesday that the city asked Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito to give the state’s largest city until Monday, July 13 to prepare its own industry-specific guidelines for reopening because of Boston’s size, density and its “unique needs.”
“We’re developing additional guidelines and supports that take time to implement correctly here in Boston. We’re continuing to monitor our local health data and watch for any impacts that we may have seen from Phase 2,” Walsh said. “Taking extra time also allows us the opportunity to continue addressing the racial and ethnic inequalities that we’re seeing here in the health impacts and economic impacts of this virus.”
The mayor said Boston is developing guidelines in multiple languages for indoor fitness, museums and cultural spaces, and outdoor events. The city will also host online workshops for performance venues, artistic and cultural institutions, and activities in the tourism industry. Much of that information will be posted online this week, he said.
Earlier Tuesday, Baker said that public health data “continues to show us positive trends on many of the key metrics” and that the state’s plodding reopening is only made possible by people who have adhered to mitigation strategies like wearing a mask and maintaining six feet or more of distance from others.
“It’s now more important than ever, especially as we get into Phase 3, that everybody continue to do the things that have made such a difference here in Massachusetts over the course of the past 120 days. That means continuing to wear masks if you can’t socially distance, to socially distance whenever possible, to practice good hygiene and to stay home if you feel sick,” he said.
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