Massachusetts marked another step Monday in the reopening of the economy and a return to life as we used to know it, but that hasn’t quelled frustration over the pace of relaxing these COVID-19-required restrictions.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s gradual approach — especially considering the impressive vaccination strides this state has made — rankles some in the business community who want to see the shackles removed from industries that took the hardest coronavirus hits.
“This is all about balance,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “We’ve done very well on vaccinations and we need to start moving toward reopening. Worst-case scenario, I hope we’re at 100% by July 4th weekend,” added Hurst, who noted that some neighboring states plan to resume full operation by the end of May.
Doing so in July would be a month sooner than Baker’s Aug. 1 full reopening date.
We’re still a long way from achieving that goal.
For example, amusement parks, theme parks and outdoor water parks can now open, but only at 50% capacity.
Also, stadiums and ballparks can double their attendance limits, to 25%.
Current guidelines require bars, beer gardens, breweries, wineries and distilleries to remain closed until May 29; then, they’ll follow the same rules imposed on restaurants: seated service only, a 90-minute limit and no dance floors. Also on that date, gathering limits will increase to 200 people indoors and 250 people outdoors.
But alas, singing indoors returned as of Monday — with strict social distancing requirements, of course.
The governor has left open the possibility of accelerating that Aug. 1 date.
“We’re going to continue to play this game based on what we think makes the most sense for Massachusetts,” Baker said last week.
But these broad-brush pronouncements can’t capture the practical effect they have on organizations and businesses trying to wade through these regulatory weeds.
Lowell’s Summer Music Series is a case in point.
Organizers were cautiously optimistic they would be able to stage this signature event, which took a pandemic-caused hiatus last season.
But it all depended on the state’s COVID-19 infection situation.
Several weeks ago, Peter Aucella, general manager of the Lowell Summer Music Series and Lowell Festival Foundation, said he’d need clarity at the federal, state and local level by the end of April in order to proceed.
Right on cue, Gov. Baker announced in late April the lifting of the state’s outdoor mask mandate, effective April 30, the easing of other pandemic-related business restrictions beginning May 10, and the resumption of business as usual by Aug. 1.
However, the home of the Lowell Summer Music Series, Boarding House Park, resides on federal property, which means events held there must adhere to National Park Service COVID-19 regulations.
And that current Park Service guidance encourages a minimum of 6 feet of physical distancing between individuals and mask-wearing when social distancing isn’t possible.
Left in place, that policy makes it economically impossible to hold concerts at Boarding House Park, which again put the Lowell Summer Music Series in jeopardy.
Luckily for Music Series fans, Aucella was able to work out an arrangement with Pete Lally, who heads the management group that runs the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, which has helped the Music Series with concert logistics in recent years.
So, in accordance with state and local guidelines, the Lowell Memorial Auditorium — at this point — will host Music Series concerts.
Hopefully, by August, those federal outdoor rules will ease enough to allow concerts back at Boarding House Park.
If not, they’ll be held indoors, as convoluted as that sounds.
Wisely, Aucella waited until August to book any concert acts. He’s lined up six, with several more in the works.
The Music Series’ travails represent just a microcosm of the regulatory hurdles that must be cleared to do business in a pandemic.
Maybe someday soon, government agencies will speak with one voice. Tower of Babel bureaucracies make an already challenging compliance ordeal virtually impossible to navigate.
