This story was updated at 3:25 p.m.
Gov. Charlie Baker is ordering all of Massachusetts to roll back to stage one of the third phase of the state's reopening plan, effective Sunday. Most indoor public areas will have a 40 percent capacity limit. Outdoor gathering limits and indoor dining groups will also be reduced.
"There's no question that hope's on the horizon," Baker said. "The vaccine is on the way, and there are many treatments that are now game-changers for people who are dealing with this terrible disease. But we cannot simply wait for the vaccine to get here."
Retail stores, museums, office spaces, places of worship, gyms, hotel, motels, restaurants and most other public spaces will operate at a 40 percent capacity limit, down from 50 percent. Indoor theaters and performance venues will close. Outdoor gatherings will be reduced from a maximum crowd size of 100 people to just 50. Restaurants will be allowed to seat six patrons per party, down from ten.
In workplaces, Baker is ordering masks to be worn at all times when an employee is anywhere except their personal work space, like a desk or cubicle.
Baker emphasised that the new restrictions are meant to shield the state's medical community and hospitals from a growing wave of patients taking up beds and ICU space. Baker said many hospitals are facing staffing shortfalls since staff themselves are forced to quarantine.
"It's critically important to understand that the decisions you make every day about what to do and who to be with will have a significant impact on our ability to stop the spread, to make it possible for people to work, to keep our schools open for kids and to build ourselves a bridge to the vaccine and keep our healthcare system strong," Baker said.
Massachusetts saw 2,463 new infections Monday from 43,304 tests, with an infection rate of 5.46 percent and 30 new deaths. Monday's numbers were a drastic decrease from the 4,747 new cases reported Sunday from 89,439 tests. The seven-day average positive test rate remained high at 5.46 percent.
"The rate Massachusetts residents are getting infected, and the rate at which they are needing medical care, if all continues to move at this pace, is simply not sustainable over time, and our health care system will be put at risk," Baker said at his daily coronavirus press conference Tuesday.
Baker said the rollback to the previous step of the reopening plan is meant to prevent viral spread in indoor settings, create stronger compliance with face covering and social distance guidance and reduce mobility.
Baker said he has weighed all his reopening and restriction decisions against the economic impact suffered by businesses that are forced to close down — like the general business shutdown seen in the spring, which he said hit the working class hardest.
"That had a calamitous impact on people who didn't have MBAs or MPHs or the ability to do their job from home or were white collar workers or worked in finance or accounting or law," Baker said. "The people who really got creamed by that were the people that actually have to get up and go to work somewhere."
