Governor Baker extends business closure order, stay-at-home advisory until May 18

[brooklynite]

Source: Boston Globe

Saying that Massachusetts is still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Charlie Baker announced Tuesday that he is extending his order closing non-essential businesses and his stay-at-home advisory for residents until May 18. They had been slated to expire on May 4.

“I know pushing these dates back a couple of weeks is probably not what many people want to hear,” he said at a State House news conference. “We all look forward to stepping in front of this podium to tell you that we’re starting to open for business. I know that we’ll get there soon, but we have to be smart about how we do it and recognize and understand that there are risks associated with going back too soon."

He also extended the state order banning gatherings of 10 people or more.

Baker said medical and infectious disease experts have said the measures had been successful in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 3,000 state residents in less than six weeks.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/28/nation/coronavirus-boston-massachusetts-april-28/?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The only things people want are food and safety

Demand for other things will be slow to bounce no matter how many Republicans and capitalists and CEOs tell you otherwise.

[gibraltar72]

2. Polls are overwhelming that people want to feel safe before reopening.

Nothing Trump has done has been reassuring. Also overwhelmingly people support using science and facts to determine reasonable opening schedule.

[Submariner]

3. I've been reading the data for the 3,000 dead in the state's population of 6.8 million

as opposed to Florida's 21 million, with just over a thousand dead. If I did not move out of Boston last September, I would be very likely be among the dead now, with I feel about a 90% certainty, which is a scary thought.

Hating city driving, I had become a creature of the subway system, and traveled over to the Mass General Hospital for my doc appointments a couple of times a month, and then into downtown or the waterfront to hang out. Like NYC, international travelers are in and out of this city daily from everywhere on the planet.

The subway days are over for 73 yr old vets with compromised lungs, so I am realizing how on a just a whim to keep warm by avoiding the northeast winters, I probably saved my life by moving last fall, and I'm glad to still be around, at least for the next few weeks anyway.