Health

City of Boston moving to Phase 3 of reopening plan in February, Mayor Walsh announces

BOSTON — Mayor Marty Walsh announced that the City of Boston is extending the pause on the city’s reopening plan for the remainder of January. The announcement was made on Tuesday morning and comes one day after the state lifted the stay-at-home-advisory and business curfew.

In December, the city paused the reopening plan and moved back to Phase 2, Step 2 to combat a surge in cases after the holiday. The pause in the reopening plan was set to expire on Wednesday but has been extended until the end of the month.

On February 1, the city will move to Phase 3, Step 1.

Under this designation, most businesses will remain at a 25% capacity limit. All gatherings and events remain subject to current capacity limits of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors. Under this phase, the following businesses can reopen:

  • Aquariums
  • Fitness Centers and Health Clubs
  • Indoor and outdoor gaming arcades
  • Indoor event spaces
  • Indoor historic spaces
  • Indoor recreational and athletic facilities (except for youth 18 and under)
  • Indoor recreational venues with potential for low-contact
  • Movie theaters
  • Museums
  • Sight-seeing and organized tours

Mayor Walsh and Health and Human Services Chief Marty Martinez announced they are resuming the reopening after two weeks of better health numbers.

“The data and science here tell us that we are starting to see improvement,” Martinez said .

As Boston gets ready to start reopening again, Boston 25 News is hearing from people about how safe they feel.

“I probably wouldn’t go to a movie theatre, but I might go to some of the other places depending [on] how crowded they were,” Julie Miller said.

“I feel very safe,” added Boston resident Cynthia Gorton. “Closing is fine; opening up, let’s see.”

New England Aquarium President & CEO Vikki Spruill told Boston 25 News that they will reopen on February 5. They plan to continue limiting their capacity to 20% even though the state set the limit at 25%.

“It has been a rollercoaster over this last year, but we got the news today, we were so excited because we are ready,” Spruill said.

Erin Madore, the owner of Connected Through Strength fitness studio in Dorchester’s Savin Hill neighborhood, said they have been navigating the pandemic with difficult decisions like having to move to a smaller space.

“Feeling much like we are out to sea without a map or compass,” Madore said.

But now they are working out their reopening plan hopefully, they said, for the last time.

“We are so excited, at least we are moving forward. We just want that next step, safely of course,” Madore said.

You can find more information about Phase 3, Step 1 here.

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