Doctor Wants Massachusetts To End Outdoor Mask Mandates: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Monday, April 19. It's also Patriots' Day, or Patriot's Day if you live in Maine. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• A prominent doctor is suggesting Massachusetts and communities that have mandated face coverings in outdoor spaces reconsider those rules.
• A Facebook group "Stop Gun Stores In Newton" was formed within hours after plans to open a gun store in Newtonville were disclosed.
• A trial set to begin this month will showcase former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia's dramatic rise and fall in the southeastern Massachusetts city of 89,000 that's still hurting by the collapse of its once-booming textile industry.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

A prominent doctor is suggesting Massachusetts and communities that have mandated face coverings in outdoor spaces reconsider those rules.

"Transmissions do not take place between solitary individuals going for a walk, transiently passing each other on the street, a hiking trail, or a jogging track. That biker who whizzes by without a mask poses no danger to us, at least from a respiratory virus perspective," Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, wrote in a blog post for the New England Journal of Medicine Monday.

Sax proposes new policies based on "our best understanding of the science of SARS-CoV-2 transmission." He says masks should still be required indoor spaces with poor ventilation, especially crowded spaces where unmasked individuals are "talking, shouting, singing."

But masks should no longer be required outdoors, especially where people can maintain distance. "Masks only needed [outside] for lengthy interactions with others at close distance," Sax writes.

Read the full story.

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Monday's Other Top Stories

From "wunderkid" to "defendant": Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia heads to trial this month on charges that he stole more than $230,000 from investors in a smartphone app he created to pay for things like a Mercedes, casino trips and adult entertainment. As mayor, he's accused of convincing his chief of staff to give him half of her salary in order to keep her city job and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from marijuana businesses seeking to operate there. The trial will showcase Correia's dramatic rise and fall in the southeastern Massachusetts city of 89,000 that's still hurting by the collapse of its once-booming textile industry.

Suspects arrested in Newton burglaries: Police arrested three men Friday in connection to a string of recent burglaries in Newton. Joiser O. Zapata, 36, of Boston, Joseph R. Sarro, 39, of Mattapan, Ernest E. Woods,52, also of Mattapan, were arrested after more than a dozen reported breakin-ins in Newton over the past two months.

Gun store pushback: A Facebook group "Stop Gun Stores In Newton" was formed within hours after plans to open a gun store in Newtonville were disclosed. The group had more than 1,700 members within four days. Residents are petitioning city officials to change zoning laws to keep gun stores out of Newton.

Learn more about getting a COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts at Patch's information hub.

They Said It

"My career has been one of complete accidents."

• Former Bruins player and broadcaster Johnny Peirson, who died Saturday. He was 95.

In Case You Missed It

Split on vaccine passports: About half of Patch readers who responded to a survey about so-called vaccine passports think Massachusetts should not require a document that proves one has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, a split in public sentiment that leaked into other questions about how life might get back to "normal." The survey is not meant to be a scientific poll, but rather a broad look at the public's mindset.

Related story: 5 Things To Know About Vaccine Passport Debate In MA

Latest Updates On The Coronavirus Pandemic

• CVS Announces Over The Counter, At-Home COVID-19 Test Kits
• Some Newton High Schoolers Will Be Required To Get COVID Tests

By The Numbers

4: The number of states which observe the third Monday in April as Patriots' Day (or Patriot's Day, as it's known in Maine). Connecticut is the most recent state to join the list, having first observed the holiday marking the start of the American Revolution in 2018.

Related: Colonial Reenactors March From Sudbury To Concord And Lincoln To Mark Patriots' Day