Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday that he will announce on Saturday the timeline and plan for beginning the second part of the state’s phased re-opening. The governor’s office calls it a “cautious” reopening that will increase the number and type of businesses that are allowed to reopen under new, stricter guidelines to protect public health.
According to state guidance, businesses allowed to reopen and allow customers or patrons inside within limitations include retail stores, auto dealers, libraries, hotels and motels, and “close contact” personal services like tattoos, nail salons and massage parlors, although the latter category will have additional restrictions at the outset of Phase 2.
Baker delivered his daily press conference from LabCentral, a shared laboratory space in Cambridge where multiple biotech startups are now pursuing cures, treatments and tests for COVID-19.
Watch Baker announce Phase 2 reopening.
Baker said the lab, which received state-funded start-up grants, is an example of the importance of Massachusetts’ biotech industry and that the labs, which have been allowed to remain open, have set an example for following best practices in workplace protections.
“This is exactly what we need across the state,” Baker said, as businesses prepare for the next phase of reopening.
Baker also addressed the wave of protests and demonstrations around the commonwealth in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African-American man killed by a Minneapolis police officer.
Baker said he was moved by memorial ceremonies around the commonwealth and on Beacon Hill, where Massachusetts Speaker of the House Robert Leo held an 8-minute and 46-second moment of silence in recognition of the amount of time Floyd's neck was pinned under the police officer’s knee before Floyd died.
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“I just want to say that at times like these, when so many of us are feeling pain and anxiety for a whole bunch of reasons, it was enormously helpful to experience in some small way, with a group of colleagues together, just how long 8 minutes and 46 seconds was,” Baker said.
Baker said he expects to unveil new proposals next week that “we believe will dramatically improve transparency in law enforcement.”
The governor also defended his decision to deploy National Guard members onto the streets of cities, like Boston, that have seen property damage and vandalism during protests.
Baker said the response from local communities to the Guard presence was “overwhelmingly” favorable and that since the Guard was deployed, there have been no more than a handful of arrests and few further acts of vandalism.
Baker said he intends to continue deploying the Guard as long as appropriate.
“Small businesses especially and retailers on main streets have suffered a terrible blow as a result of this pandemic and a lot of the decisions we made to slow the spread of the virus,” Baker said. “And to add insult to injury by having so many of them be the victims of what happened on Sunday night sent a very significant message to all of us about how important it would be to make sure that main streets and small businesses and local communities were protected.”
Baker said the Guard was also deployed to ensure that “the people who marched and demonstrated — and who were doing so, as I’ve said over and over again, peacefully — would be able to do that without worrying about any violence breaking out.”
Baker said he does not know when an independent investigation into the deaths of more than 40 residents of the Holyoke Soldiers Home, apparently from COVID-19-related causes, will be completed; but the governor said he expects the report will be issued soon.
