As of Monday, January 25, Governor Charlie Baker eased several COVID-19 restrictions. These restrictions are concerning business opening times, stay-at-home advisories, and gatherings.
Businesses, including restaurants, will now be able to stay open past 9:30pm. This restriction impacted health clubs, movie theaters, casinos, and more. However, capacity limits will remain in place for another 2 weeks. Premises that sell alcohol, including liquor stores, will also be able to remain open past 9:30pm.
Gatherings and events are also now permitted to continue past 9:30pm, but capacity is limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
These new restrictions come after encouraging COVID-19 data was released, which showed a 10% drop in hospitalizations and an average positivity test rate drop of 33% since early January. However, the full set of rollbacks won’t yet take place in Boston.
More healthcare workers have also been made eligible for Phase 1 of Massachusetts’ vaccine rollout, including dentists, medical and nursing students, physical therapists, and more.