MA Would Be Last To Fully Reopen Under Current Timelines

MASSACHUSETTS — As of Tuesday, 25 states have fully reopened and lifted all the coronavirus restrictions that had been placed on businesses. Five more, including Rhode Island, plan to do so by the end of this month. Other states are targeting being fully reopening in June or July, with July 4 being the latest reopening date in all but one of the 15 states that have laid out a schedule.

And then there's Massachusetts, which under the current reopening timetable won't lift restrictions until Aug. 1. On Monday, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker hinted that date may be moved up, but declined to commit to an earlier reopening.

"We said when we originally proposed the Aug. 1 date that was the outside date," Baker said at a news conference. "Even if we see vaccinations slow down, and all the rest, we felt that date would probably work ... I would say we've been pleasantly surprised."

Of the states that border Massachusetts, only New York is among the seven states that have not set an opening date. Vermont is scheduled to reopen July 4, while Connecticut and Rhode Island plan to reopen by the end of this month. New Hampshire has been fully reopened since dropping the last of its business restrictions on May 8.

Massachusetts eased some coronavirus restrictions Monday, but that isn't enough for business groups, who point out Massachusetts is lagging behind states where there are higher rates of COVID-19 transmission and lower rates of vaccination. Meanwhile, 10 plaintiffs asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review December's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling upholding Baker's executive orders that placed restrictions on businesses and residents during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Governor Baker needs to realize that his August 1 date is now outdated," Paul Diego Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, said. Craney's statement also noted that Washington, DC — "an urban metropolis that houses our Federal Government, Members of Congress, the President and Vice President of the United States among other institutions" —is scheduled to reopen on June 11.

"Imagine being a seasonal business and hearing Governor Baker say the Massachusetts vaccine roll out is the best in the country and that our state has fewer vaccine hesitant residents than anywhere else, then hearing him say you cannot fully re-open your seasonal business until August 1," Craney said. "For countless small business owners, their workers, and customers, that is exactly what they heard with the Governor’s 're-opening' plan."