SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Mild temperatures and low humidity on a holiday weekend. Any other year, Davis Square would be jammed under such conditions.
But as the scrolling message on the corner bank reminds: this is no ordinary year. It reports 288 new cases of Covid-19 in the Commonwealth and 21 deaths.
“You know what’s running through my head, as well as numerous other bars, restaurants and small businesses in the area,” said Maria Terranova DiSisto, owner of Mike’s Food & Spirits. “The winter.”
Mike’s is blessed with arguably the best location in Davis Square, wrapped at the apex of a three-street intersection. And DiSisto said she’s got some other advantages over some of the many other restaurants in the Square.
“I’m very fortunate in the fact I do have a large storefront, so I’m able to offer ample outdoor seating,” she said. “A lot of windows that open up. So I’m able to offer a lot of fresh air.”
What she can’t offer her employees is a guarantee of work once the cold weather comes. With Somerville taking a slow approach to reopening, DiSisto has been treating the restaurant like a seasonal business.
“I think that the city has taken a much more cautious approach to things,” she said. “Whether it be right or wrong, it’s something we have to deal with.”
This week, Somerville will allow an expansion of services by a set of Phase Three businesses, such as martial arts, dance and yoga studios, as well as gyms and fitness centers.
There will be limits on the number of customers at any given time, appointments for some services and the mandatory use of facial coverings.
“With the data and the indicators all heading in the right direction we felt it was safe and practical to allow for a limited expansion,” said Mayor Joe Curtatone. “We are being guided by science. We are listening to the highest level of expertise both health experts and epidemiologists.”
What he’s not being guided by, the mayor says, is the state.
“The state has lacked a uniform plan. So cities and towns across the Commonwealth have had to take this on, on their own,” the Mayor said. “We’re trying to operate and live in this new normal. And that means preparing for the resurgence that we know... and it’s not a question of if, but a question of when it will hit us. And we want to make sure that resurgence doesn’t overwhelm us worse than that initial phase.”
Curtatone praised the state’s initial response to the pandemic -- which helped flatten the curve and keep the health care system from getting overwhelmed.
“That did save lives,” he said.
But Curtatone suggested the Governor has dropped the ball since then -- leaving communities such as Somerville to figure things out for themselves. He was especially critical of the state’s lack of central planning on the reopening of schools.
“All we got from the Commonwealth was a very elementary color-coded map that declared either a white community, a green community, a yellow community or red community depending on number of cases per 100,000 population,” he said. “That was one data point. One indicator.”
Curtatone said the map erroneously treated boundaries between communities as sacred.
“It dismissed the idea that what happens in Lynn would matter in Somerville. What happens in Chelsea would matter in Salem,” he said. “Of course it does. Our residents travel the same transit systems, so do our essential workers. We’re very mobile communities.”
The state also never took into account the condition of school buildings, Curtatone said.
Somerville, like a number of other districts, hired an environmental engineering firm to assess airflow in school buildings -- the regular exchange of air a key factor in ensuring the health of students and staff.
“And we have a lot of work to do on those buildings as a result of that,” Curtatone said.
“The commonwealth did not even entertain the fact that we should be doing surveillance testing in our schools,” Curtatone said. “And let me clarify. That means that every member of our school community, teachers staff and students are tested for Covid before they enter into the school in any physical plan -- whether it’s hybrid or fully in attendance.”
That would be followed by surveillance testing -- random sampling of school populations to give a better idea how the pandemic is affecting schools.
“So basically what the Commonwealth said is, you’re going to drive a car blindfolded when you make a decision about whether or not to open schools,” the mayor said. “We don’t have a plan and there’s been no leadership from either DESE or the Governor’s office on this. And even going back to the beginning of the pandemic, cities and towns have had to lead this charge and when you ask why Somerville has been more conservative or cautious... because we’ve had to do it on our own from the beginning.”
Back in Davis Square, there are plenty of empty tables in the outdoor seating areas. When darkness falls, the crowds likely won’t swell like they used to, said Maria DiSisto.
“It’s been very sad to see what summer nights look like now compared to 12 months ago,” she said. “People singing... People playing guitars. It’s usually just such a lively, lively place. Come 10:30... 11 o’clock... it’s pretty quiet now.”
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