May 18 Won't Be A 'Starting Gun' For Reopening MA, Baker Says

The phased reopening of Massachusetts will continue to be a very deliberate one even after May 18, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday.

Baker told reporters in his daily update that the state will not abruptly get back to business May 18, which is when the stay-at-home advisory and closure of nonessential businesses expire. The reopening advisory board is scheduled to release a report that day, meaning significant reopening is not likely to be immediate.

"There won't be anyone firing a starting gun on May 18 and saying everyone is off to the races," Baker said.

The state's careful strategy will continue until there is a vaccine, Baker said. Experts have said a vaccine may not be available until 2022, though President Trump said as recently as Sunday he feels like a vaccine could be ready by the end of the 2020.

"As long as there is no vaccine we're going to have to be talking about how to do this in the way that makes the most sense and that can be done the most safely across all sectors of our economy," Baker said.

Monday is the day the state was to begin reopening before Baker extended the closures another two weeks. On Wednesday Massachusetts residents will have to begin wearing face coverings in public when social distancing is not possible.

"The threat of future transmission and illness will continue to be with us for a very long time," Baker said, noting why the face coverings will be important going forward.

The state will be able to move forward more when the public health data indicates COVID-19 is on a downward trend.

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Baker said the reopening advisory board spent the weekend speaking to nearly two dozen industry associations and community coalitions that represent 1.4 million workers and 100,000 businesses. The board will continue to speak with different business sectors this week.

The board will release a plan May 18, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said.

Baker said different parts of Massachusetts are still at different stages of the pandemic. Cases are going down in Western Massachusetts and the Cape, up in Worcester and the South Coast and remaining flat in Boston.

Baker discussed Sunday's coronavirus numbers, which were a mix of discouraging and encouraging news. There were 158 new deaths, pushing the total past 4,000. But Baker said the nearly 16,000 tests performed, which were the highest in a single day, discovered 1,824 new confirmed cases. The positive rate was under 12 percent, which was the lowest since March.

"Ramping up testing continues to be one of our highest priorities and it's very important to the success of our community tracing program," Baker said.