New State Covid Restrictions Start Friday, November 6

It’s been a tough year, and needing new COVID-19 rules may not be how we all hoped to spend fall. But winter is coming, the virus spreads better indoors, and COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise across the Commonwealth. We feel fortunate to be in a community where the vast majority have done all they can to help slow the spread. This week the Governor announced new measures to help flatten the curve of the new COVID-19 surge. We did this once, Somerville, and we ask everyone to help do this again. 

All orders and advisories go into effect today, Friday, November 6. The new State orders include those listed below. Thank you for doing your part.

New State Advisories

Stay at Home Advisory, Be Home by 10 p.m.: With exceptions for essential activities, such as going to work, grocery shopping, pharmacy or medical visits, or taking a walk, all residents are instructed to stay home with their household (not with guests) between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The goal is to reduce non-essential activities that could lead to virus exposure. Click here for details: www.mass.gov/stayhome.

Always Wear a Face Covering in Public (over your mouth and nose, inside and outside) No Matter How Close You Are to Others: Face coverings work and can save lives and help keep businesses open. The State now requires all persons over the age of five to wear face-coverings in all public places at all times, even when you are at a distance from others. This applies indoors and outdoors. Previous exceptions including for medical or disabling conditions remain. As a reminder, Somerville’s face covering order applies starting at age 2 and up. Click here to read the revised face-coverings order.

Keep Gatherings Safer: The State has reduced gathering size limits and now requires that all gatherings (regardless of size or location) must end by 9:30 p.m. In Somerville, all indoor and outdoor gatherings remain limited to ten or fewer people. The State also now requires that hosts report known positive COVID-19 cases to the local health department and cooperate with contact tracing. Call 311 (617-666-3311) to reach the Somerville Health and Human Services Department. Click here to read the revised gatherings order.

Certain Businesses and Activities to close or stop at 9:30 p.m.: To support the Stay at Home Advisory, the State has ordered the following businesses and activities to close each night at 9:30 p.m. and they may not reopen before 5 a.m. This includes:

•  In-Person Dining at Restaurants must end at 9:30 p.m. Takeout and delivery may continue for food and non-alcoholic beverages.
• Liquor stores and other retailers that sell alcohol must cease alcohol sales at 9:30 p.m. (but may continue to sell other products).
• Adult-use marijuana sales must cease at 9:30 p.m. (not including medical marijuana).
• Indoor & outdoor events
• Theaters/movie theaters, and performance venues (indoor and outdoor)
• Youth and adult amateur sports activities
• Golf facilities
• Recreational boating and boating businesses
• Outdoor recreational experiences
• Casinos and horse tracks/simulcast facilities
• Driving and flight schools
• Zoos, botanical gardens, wildlife reserves, nature centers
• Close contact personal services (such as hair and nail salons)
• Gyms, Fitness Centers and Health Clubs
• Indoor and outdoor pools
• Museums/cultural & historical facilities/guided tours
• Click here for a full list of businesses required to close at 9:30 p.m.

Thank you. More COVID-19 and City news is to come soon in the next full COVID-19 update.