Factories, construction sites and houses of worship could be among the first to receive green lights when Gov. Charlie Baker unveils a plan to ease coronavirus restrictions in Massachusetts Monday.
The Baker Administration informed some municipal leaders of their plans over the weekend. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council shared the details with member communities, telling them it expects manufacturing, real estate development and religious gatherings to resume — with limitations — right away.
Amid mounting anticipation, Baker has said not to expect a complete economic reopening but rather a gradual process that will unfold in four phases.
Since issuing an emergency order that shuttered non-essential places of business in March, Baker has extended the closures multiple times and abandoned the notion of a uniform expiration date when everyone could immediately go back to offices, malls, theaters and other public places.
"We'll continue to follow the data and the public health metrics to determine when phase one — start of reopening — begins and then when it's safe to move on to concurrent phases after that," Baker said last week.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who chairs the state's reopening board, has said physical distancing, mask wearing and cleaning will be key components of the first phase. In that regard, life may not look too much different from the way it does now.
Baker has indicated the first businesses to reopen will be the ones that can severely limit contact between employees and customers, and among employees themselves.
Businesses that are high-touch by nature — massage parlors, for example — may have to wait for the second or even third phase.
The fourth and final phase, which state officials refer to as a "new normal," won't come until there is a coronavirus vaccine or, perhaps, an effective treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
One of the most promising potential vaccines is in development by the Cambridge biotechnology firm Moderna. Its vaccine candidate is officially on the FDA's "fast track," as of last week, meaning regulators will help Moderna bring the vaccine to market as soon as possible.
But the drug still has to prove safe and effective.
Moderna said last week that it is about to begin a phase-two clinical trial involving 600 people. Half will be under age 55, half will be over and, as usual, half of both groups will get a placebo, not the potential vaccine. Participants will receive two doses, four weeks apart, and then will be followed for a full year.
Moderna can start a phase-three trial before that year is over; the company is aiming for early summer. But the bottom line is that a vaccine probably won't be on the market until 2021, which is what Moderna has said from the outset.
The process is moving fast, by the standards of drug development, but little feels fast to the companies that have had to close and the more than 1 million Massachusetts workers who've lost jobs.
Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, worries local companies are falling behind their neighbors in nearby states.
"All the other New England states will be open prior to Memorial Day weekend," he said. "We believe we need to move with the other states."
Hurst could get his way, and some state lawmakers agree with this view. But others on Beacon Hill contend Massachusetts may actually be moving too quickly.
"I know everyone wants to get back to work," said Rep. Christine Barber, a Somerville Democrat, "but we have to do so safely, so it doesn't end up bringing back a resurgence of the disease that we've seen in other places when things have reopened too quickly."
State officials say the forthcoming reopening plan will include triggers for putting restrictions back in place, if coronavirus cases spike again.
Massachusetts on Sunday reported fewer than 100 people dead for the first time in more than a month. Reports of new fatalities have been falling steadily for a couple of weeks, and other key metrics are encouraging.
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Factories, Churches Expect Green Light When Gov. Baker Unveils Mass. Reopening Plan - WBUR
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