Coronavirus shutdowns: Whats open, whats closed in Massachusetts? – MassLive.com
Posted: March 18, 2020 at 10:41 am
In an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus, Massachusetts school, businesses and government buildings have been shut down.
Some are closed for weeks. Others will feature modified hours and operations.
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Below is a list of coronavirus-related closures in Massachusetts. Hours and operations can change quickly, so check back for updates and call ahead to verify hours of operation and status.
Daycare
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced an order Sunday to restricting gathering of 25 people or more. That order does not apply to childcare facilities for children, officials confirmed to MassLive. However, some daycare facilities are closed by management. Check with your provider for details.
K-12 Schools
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker ordered all K-12 school closed for three weeks effective on Tuesday, until at least April 6. The closure does not apply to residential and day programs for students with special needs.
Schools must suspend in-person educational operations and staff should be planning on how to provide learning opportunities during this period and beyond.
Colleges and Universities
The governor recommended all Massachusetts colleges and universities keep students off campus and offer online learning. The majority of colleges in Massachusetts announced remote learning plans and either extended spring breaks to keep students off campus or announced plans to move students off campus.
United States Postal Service
The postal service will continue with normal operations as long as their workers can safely serve their communities - with some limitations.
The Postal Service is taking this health threat seriously, but we also intend to act calmly and consistently based upon the advice of medical and public health professionals, Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan said last week.
Customers sending or receiving mail from China can expect delays and priority mail express international for mail destined for China or Hong Kong has been suspended.
Private mail services - including FedEx, UPS and Amazon Prime - are continuing to deliver packages though warning that customers living in regions seriously impacted by coronavirus may experience delays. Amazon reported a significant increase in orders which has resulted in longer delivery times for standard and Amazon Pantry orders.
Federal courts
Federal courts are individually coordinating with state and local health officials to obtain local information about the coronavirus (COVID-19), and some have issued orders relating to court business, and public and employee safety. Use the Federal Court Finder to link to a courts website for court specific information.
Internal Revenue Service
The Trump administration announced plans to delay the April 15 tax deadline due to the growing spread of coronavirus. The delay would be extended to most individual taxpayers and small businesses.
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles
All RMV offices that serve the public are closed on Monday, March 16, and Tuesday, March 17. The RMV is offering more time for residents who need to renew their drivers license, ID or permits between March 1 and April 1. Full details here.
Massachusetts courts
Trial courts across Massachusetts are closed on Monday, March 16, and Tuesday, March 17. Anyone with pending matters is asked to contact the clerks office Wednesday.
Massachusetts hospitals are implementing new measures in response to coronavirus . Hospitals are limiting visitors, deferring certain elective procedures and encouraging virtual visits.
Baystate Health
We have set up an incident command center under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Artenstein, our Chief Physician Executive, who also is an infectious disease doctor and a recognized expert on the spread of novel infectious agents. That team is considering new information on a daily basis, adjusting policies as needed, dealing with issues brought forward by front line employees and anticipating the course of the epidemic here in Western Mass.
Baystate Medical Center identified its first COVID-19 patient at the hospital over the weekend. That person is no longer in the hospital and is recovering at home," Mark A. Keroack, president & CEO, Baystate Health said.
Berkshire Medical Center
Berkshire Medical Center announced changes to visitation policies in line with national trends and to further lower the risk of transmission of infectious disease in our community, including the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Hospitals and other healthcare facilities across Massachusetts and the United States have enacted similar visitation restrictions.
Berkshire Health Systems is committed to protecting the health and safety of our patients, visitors and staff, and this change helps us to enhance our ongoing efforts to minimize the potential further community transmission of COVID-19, said James Lederer, MD, the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer for Berkshire Health Systems. We recognize the importance of the support of family and loved ones to our patients during their stay at BMC or Fairview, but the novel coronavirus requires us to temporarily adjust our visiting policy in order to keep our patients and visitors safe from infection.
70 workers - including 54 nurses - at Berkshire Medical Center, the largest hospital in Berkshire County, were placed in quarantine after exposure to people diagnosed with coronavirus. Nurses wore face masks but not eye shields and gowns, as recommended for medical professionals treating COVID-19 patients. Hospital staff who came into contact with the patients have been furloughed for 14 days, a spokesperson for the medical center said.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
In an effort to confront emerging challenges related to COVID-19 transmission in the community, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is rescheduling all non-urgent elective surgeries, procedures and clinic visits scheduled within the next two weeks.
We are contacting patients who have an appointment, procedure or surgery scheduled to confirm or reschedule your appointment. We have developed thoughtful criteria to determine which appointments can safely be rescheduled, and will maintain access for patients in need of immediate or emergency care.
By taking these steps, we can help to protect our patients and staff and preserve medical resources for those who need them most.
If you have a scheduled appointment, procedure or surgery, you will hear from your care team soon. If you have any questions, please contact your providers office directly.
To protect the health of patients and staff, we are restricting all visitors unless pre-approved by each patients care team under extenuating circumstances.
One essential escort per patient is allowed in outpatient areas. Escorts will be actively screened and permitted IF:
Boston Medical Center
Effective as of March 15, Boston Medical Center announced new restrictions.
Brigham and Womens Hospital
Due to concerns about COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus), we are taking every precaution to protect the health of our patients, visitors and staff, including the following changes to our visitor policy, effective March 14:
Massachusetts General Hospital
"We are continuing to implement a wide range of measures to mitigate the spread of disease, including restricting visitors, deferring certain elective procedures and visits, and promoting social distancing by encouraging those staff who can work remotely to do so.
A health care worker at Massachusetts General Hospital tested positive for coronavirus this week, the latest in a growing number of workers in the medical field impacted by the illness.
Southcoast Hospitals
For the protection of Southcoast Healths patients, employees and providers, please adhere to the following:
UMass Memorial Medical Center
"UMass Memorial continues to monitor the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and is ready to respond to any cases in our area. At present, the information on this virus is changing on a daily basis. There are nearly 170,000 cases worldwide. Currently, there are more than 3,500 cases that have been confirmed in the United States. "
Grocery stores across Massachusetts have committed to remaining open and taking measures to limit exposure for customers and workers.
ALDI
ALDI stores across the country will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily starting Tuesday. Some stores may have limited hours to accommodate restocking and cleaning.
Big Y
Big Y World Class Market adjusted store hours on Monday. Stores now open at 7:30 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. until further notice. The new schedule will give store teams time to conduct additional preventive sanitation and restock products on shelves.
Big Y offers home delivery through the third-party provider Instacart.
Market Basket
The store said this week all locations remain at regular hours: 7 a.m. through 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
Price Rite
We remain vigilant about regular cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces and we follow a routine of frequent, thorough cleaning of restrooms and public areas with a special focus on checkout stations and conveyor belts, credit card keypads and other surfaces regularly handled by customers," the company said in a statement. "Our Associates are trained to follow proper handwashing practices and we advise associates who feel ill to remain home. With your safety in mind, we have suspended in-store events and product sampling programs. We continue to monitor and follow the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, state and local health departments and our food industry trade associations.
Shaws
We have stepped up how often we clean and disinfect all departments, restrooms, and other high-touch points of the store, like checkstands and service counters. Cart wipes and hand sanitizer stations have been installed in key locations within the stores for your convenience, too. As always, we encourage customers to wash their fresh and packaged produce before consuming at home. said Vivek Sankaran, CEO and president of the Albertsons Companies, the parent company of Shaws.
Stop & Shop
The grocery chain plans to open earlier to accommodate people who are 60 and older, a group that the CDC says is at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the respiratory disease. Starting Thursday, Stop & Shop will be open for people 60 and older from 6 to 7:30 a.m. daily, according to a statement from Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid.
Were making the decision to offer this every day of the week to allow for community members in this age category to shop in a less crowded environment, which better enables social distancing. Theyll also be shopping prior to any other customers entering, Reid wrote. Now, more than ever, its important we come together as a community to support each other during challenging times.
There will be a designated entrance at Stop & Shop locations, Reid wrote.
Most Stop & Shop locations have adjusted hours to 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. to allow employees to spend more time unloading deliveries, stocking shelves and rest, the statement said.
Trader Joes
Beginning Monday and until further notice, all Trader Joes stores will be open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Walmart
Beginning Sunday, Walmart stores and Neighborhood Markets opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 11 p.m. until further notice. Stores currently operating under more reduced hours (for example, those that regularly close at 10 p.m. or open at 7 a.m.) will keep their current hours of operation, the company said.
Walmart also offers pickup services for online orders.
Wegmans
We are changing our hours of operation to better serve our customers and communities. This additional time will be used to clean our stores and restock products. Our temporary store hours are: 6 a.m. 11 p.m.
Additionally the stores have enacted a two-item limit for items including baby wipes and diapers, cleaning supplies and numerous grocery items.
Whole Foods
Starting Monday, all part and full-time hourly team members at Whole Foods Market stores and facilities in the U.S. will receive an additional $2 per hour on top of their current hourly rate through the month of April.
Stores also implemented a number of temporary modifications to our prepared foods, restaurant and self-serve venues, including:
Gov. Charlie Baker ordered all Massachusetts restaurants and bars offer only takeout and delivery starting Tuesday. Restaurants across the state announced closures for the foreseeable future, citing the safety of their employees and customers, as well as the significant drop in business in days before the ban and expected low sales in offering only takeout and delivery.
The restrictions, announced by Baker on Sunday, include gyms and limit the number of people to no more than 25 people in a space.
Golds Gym
Our gyms are currently open and our teams are hard at work maintaining a rigorous schedule of cleaning all equipment and surfaces with medical-grade solutions, in order to do everything in our power to ensure the health and safety of our Members and Team Members, the gym chain said in an email to members.
We want to do our part to help our Members continue to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle during the coming weeks. This means having the flexibility to workout wherever they are most comfortable, be it in or out of the gym. In order to support our Members in this endeavor, effective today, we are offering our GOLDS AMP digital personal training and fitness App to Golds Gym Members around the country to use for FREE until May 31, 2020*.
LA Fitness
"We want to assure you that we are monitoring further advice from the CDC, that we have in-house staff scheduled daily to regularly clean and disinfect, we have sanitizing stations that include sanitizer for hands and for equipment, and we have ordered and currently await a shipment of additional sanitizers for use at the front desk of all our clubs.
We ask that you wipe down equipment before and after use. If we confirm that a person recently diagnosed with COVID-19 used our facilities while carrying the virus, we will perform additional cleaning of the facility and contact local health authorities. We are monitoring the situation very closely and will continue to follow the guidelines, instructions and recommendations of public health officials and the CDC."
Planet Fitness
Planet Fitness has closed all its facilities in Massachusetts.
In a statement to MassLive, Planet Fitness said, In response to the Massachusetts Governors mandated containment effort and out of an abundance of caution for the health of our members, team members and neighbors, Planet Fitness locations in Massachusetts are temporarily closed, effective Sunday, March 15. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will reopen as soon as permitted.
YMCA
Closures and modified hours are being decided on a local level.
Numerous banks across the state have announced the closure of branches or restricting services to drive-through only, encouraging members to utilize services online and seek support from bank employees by phone.
Pump prices are declining significantly as the global economy faces downward pressure from COVID-19 fears and the ongoing crude price war between Russia and OPEC nations, AAA spokeswoman Mary Maguire said in a statement. Consumers can expect to see continued savings as the industry factors in a fully 50% decrease in the price of a barrel of oil since mid-January.
AAA found regular gas advertised for as low as $1.99 per gallon in Massachusetts.
Commuter Rail
Reduced service on all lines. Full, modified schedule here.
FRTA
Our fixed bus routes, ADA, Demand Response and FRTA Access will operate on its normal schedule at this time but that is subject to change."
Hartford Line
"The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is announcing precautions taken for Connecticuts public transportation system as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Continued here:
Coronavirus shutdowns: Whats open, whats closed in Massachusetts? - MassLive.com
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