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Statewide stay-at-home advisory to go into effect tomorrow but all 'non-essential' businesses ordered shut

Gov. Baker this morning ordered all "non-essential" businesses to shut at noon tomorrow.

"Essential" businesses and services that can remain open include:

  • Healthcare and human-services providers (such as hospitals, clinics and group homes);
  • Companies working on Covid-19-related medicines and vaccines or that provide or deliver services to them;
  • Pharmacies and grocery stores and the companies that deliver to them;
  • Liquor stores;
  • Restaurants that provide takeout and delivery;
  • Utility companies;
  • Gas stations;
  • Transit systems, ride-share companies, airports and airlines;
  • Communications companies, IT support desks, network operations centers;
  • Hotels;
  • The media;
  • Laundromats;
  • Financial services that process and maintain transactions, including banks;
  • Chemical companies;
  • Defense contractors.

Complete list.

State Rep. Tommy Vitolo (D-Brookline) reports:

You can still move about, in car, door, MBTA, bike, RTA, scoot, stroll, and jog. Please maintain Social distance.

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Comments

"You can still move about, in car, door, MBTA, bike, RTA, scoot, stroll, and jog"
autocorrect?
I can't figure out what it is supposed to mean.

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Needed to be done.

Really, not too much more that current situation, but any step is an improvement.

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Should’ve been done weeks ago. I guess that’s what comes of having a follower rather than a leader at the helm of this state.

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The only effect this will have is to increase panic.

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or even a "stay at home".

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You want a lockdown that will literally close everything? Like no police, no fire department, shut down all hospitals, close all supermarkets and food places indefinitely (so we starve)? Not going to happen.

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A stay at home order wouldn't shut down emergency services, this isn't the purge. If anything it makes emergency services job easier, the roads are clearer and it slows the spread.

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No, something like if you are outside, in a group of 5+ people, you get questioned and you have to have a reason. If you are having a party, you get questioned. If you are at a playground, your kids are playing together with a bunch of other kids, and you're talking to other parents, you get questioned.

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And if you do get questioned by the police, you only say one of two things--

"Am I being detained?"
If yes: "I have nothing further to say without a lawyer."
If no: Nothing, and walk away.

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Always depends on if you did or did not do something illegal...

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lockdowns done shut emergency services, groceries etc. They do however shut down Dunkin Donuts which Baker has seemed essential.

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WOULD suggest literally shutting the world down, including all essential services. Their (lack of) thinking: it would guarantee to force every single person to stay home and discourage anyone from leaving their house for any reason, and this virus would die. Must have been watching the films "Contagion" and "28 Days Later" way too much.

No country ever shuts down emergency services and food even in its bleakest point of its history.

It is amazing how many people do not know what "essential needs" and "essential services" means. Freely ask anyone (friend, relative, co-worker, and such) to name the number one essential need we humans must have... and if he/she do not instantly say "food and water" or can't answer it at all, you should NEVER put your life in his/her hands.

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Due to evolving spread of COVID-19 in Massachusetts, Governor Baker has directed the Department of Public Health to issue a stay at home advisory outlining self-isolation and social distancing protocols. Residents are advised to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel and other unnecessary activities during this two-week time period. Residents over 70 years of age or with underlying health conditions, who are considered at high risk when exposed to COVID-19, should limit social interactions with other people as much as possible.

The Baker-Polito Administration does not believe Massachusetts residents can be confined to their homes and does not support home confinement for public health reasons.

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Anyone have an idea if this affects corner convenience stores, 7-eleven, etc?

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from the current situation today.

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Except for essential operations noted - are shut down.

Update - apparently for now it's an "advisory" - not mandatory. So effectively yes, not much different from where we were.

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My read was that the closure of non-essential businesses is an order but the stay-at-home announcement from the Dept. of Public Health is an advisory.

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That makes more sense.

Damned liberal media fake news (:-)).

(Just kidding - but the CNBC news was announced and updated - so kind of confusing as I think they just announced the stay at home advisory in their last update - your read is far more sensible).

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...an advisory. The EO reads, "Now, therefore, in order to minimize all unnecessary activities outside the home during the state of emergency, I hereby order the following:"

Did you see something different?

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A lot of retail that hadn’t already shut down will be forced to.

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My landlord decided this was a great time to bring in teams of painters and repair people. So glad that'll have to stop.

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Bike shops were omitted if even considered. Other cities and states have classified bike shops as essential there is no reason Massachusetts with its abundance of bike Lanes and low traffic to not follow suit

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Just wondering for a friend.

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"Workers supporting groceries, pharmacies and other retail, including farmers markets and farm stands, that sells food and beverage products, including liquor stores."

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For a moment I thought this was a serious stay-at-home effort.

Carry on everyone. Situation slightly off-normal.

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...that won't be obeyed by anyone.

Also, see detox above.

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Some liquor stores deliver.

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Keeping liquor stores open is a smart move. You do not want alcoholics to go into rapid detox and ending up in the hospital taking up valuable emergency resources from COVID19 patients.

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Not just alcoholics!

We are telling millions of people they need to hole up in their small homes for weeks with nothing to do, to avoid all their friends and family who do not live with them and there is a possibility they are already infected but there are no hospitals available. I could not think of a better time to have a beer.

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Only alcoholics enjoy and buy liquor. Whatever.

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On the full list.

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How are liquor stores an essential service?

Yesterday the narrow sidewalk in front of the liquor store near me was almost blocked by winos and teenagers hanging out. That's become the neighborhood hangout, apparently. I could barely squeeze by them, and they laughed at me (I'm old); they seemed to think the whole thing is a joke.

How is booze essential?

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Closing liquor stores would create another public health crisis. Addiction is no joke, especially when it comes to alcohol. Withdrawal can be deadly in extreme cases.

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It's essential to my sanity to be able to have a glass of wine with all this going on! If you would prefer to not partake, then that's your prerogative.

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Alcohol has some anxiety reducing/calming effects that can help soothe oneself psychologically during a time of crisis like this. Hence why harder liquor is referred to as "spirits".

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Sounds like a wonderful fairy tale.

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I don't see why the presence of teenagers has anything to do with your story, since they can't buy alcohol there's no reason to think that closing the liquor stores would cause them to disperse as opposed to just hanging around outside somewhere else.

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Have teenagers given up on hanging around package stores trying to get an adult to buy them some booze? Have things changed so much?

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Alcohol withdrawal for alcoholics can be severe enough to kill them. I’ve seen someone with DTs. It’s scary

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anyone? anyone?

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"Adult-use" dispensares (i.e., recreation pot shops), however, are not.

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I made a comment like that last week when the Brookline dispensary had 1000 millennials lined up cheek to crotch and got hammered out here. apparently lots of people on this site think that recreational marijuana is a necessity of life. /s :-)

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One way to look at it.. A stoned society is a sedate and compliant society.

Rather have people stoned staring at a TV ordering delivery than milling about outside in groups.

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They were milling about in LARGE groups waiting to buy the stuff!

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is still alive and well and willing to deliver!

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this comment is straight out of a early 90s dare commercial lol

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I was at the shop in Salem next to Walmart and they had it under control a few days ago. Tape all over the place for six feet between people. They had stantions in place and had people snaking around the parking lot. They even put up extra ropes inside to keep customers away from the staff. On top of all that they would not let you in without an order confirmation on your phone. I counted five staff members with masks and gloves outside.

I felt MUCH better about them then the chaos I saw as I drove past the supermarket and liquor stores. Insla , Insa, however you spell it are not a one shop thing and have done other openings so they seem to have a grasp on how to handle crowds. With them closed as of tomorrow I think the local super markets should hire their security people and have them run their lines.

I never liked Brookline, it was way too crazy busy with limited space.

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Sure, ok.

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It's included in restaurants, probably, but really, it should be categorized separately as an essential business.

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Dunkin’s will be open. It is considered essential. Essential services are the services and functions that are absolutely necessary, even during a pandemic. They maintain the health and welfare of the municipality. Without these services, sickness, poverty, violence, and chaos would likely result. Ppl would go crazy without their Dunkin’ coffee

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To list what _is_ shut down. I can’t figure it out.

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Toy and game stores. Recreational-only pot shops. Laser-tag places.

Craft stores, even those with God's own protection, have to close by noon.

Certain types of factories have to shut. Think furniture or sex toys (not that I know if we have any sex-toy factories, but, then, I didn't think we had any oil wells, either, but oil drilling is specifically listed as an "essential" service).

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Who work in places where although all the employees have been home for a week, several managers go in to organize things from the central office. I’m guessing that means even they need to go home now...

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Most of us had been working from home for the last couple weeks, but there were still a few departments coming in. Now we're all WFH.

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DIY sex toy industry set to boom during COVID-19

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Kinda funny that liquor stores can remain open, yet recreational pot stores have to close. Just shows how far we haven't come.

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Preface:

Just shows how far we haven't come.

You're right, but for a different reason.

The number of dispensaries is obviously extremely limited, in a state where packies/liquor stores are the only things that outnumber Dunks'. Lines were already insane when the state's workforce was actually going to work. Not only would these lines probably be even crazier now, the limited number of dispensaries creates "destinations" by default, which is not something we need right now.

Short of some insanely elaborate waiting area design/process that accounts for both cars and foot traffic, or Drizzly for weed, I can't think of a safe way to keep these open.

But this also feeds into the reason you're right. Just the sheer lack of locations and difficulty of opening one proves how far we haven't come.

But remember folks, it is legal to grow your own at home. Easier said than done in terms of acquiring what you need, I know. But...a lot of people have a lot of free time!

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If you can't network yourself to a hookup, well... work on your networking skills.

And if you can't remember the drought of '91-- YOU WEREN'T THERE, MAN!!!!

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Besides alcohol withdrawal potentially causing serious medical harm, most liquor stores will have at least a few regular food and beverage items for sale

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People pass bongs and joints, but they don't pass a pint of beer.

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Good job. Truly what we needed was to crash the state economy even harder and induce even more human misery by ordering people to keep cooped up and isolated from each other even longer. I'm sure Connolly et al. will harangue the governor to extend it past the 7th. Who knew it'd be so easy to get people to roll over after relentless doomsaying in the local and national media.

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Just remember what the NY governor said: "But if all of these measures save just one life, they are worth it."

The amount of alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicides that will ensue due to the economic (and literal) depression that are about to ensue don't count I guess.

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It had been 25. That part is an order, not an advisory.

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Same thing in New Hampshire. Not everyone is rolling over here.

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Do you suppose “manufacturing and distribution of animal medical materials, animal vaccines, animal drugs, feed ingredients, feed, and bedding, etc.” includes places like Pet Smart, etc.? It’s under “animal agriculture” or something like that and doesn’t specifically mention pets, so it’s not clear if it only refers to livestock.

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It's not under agriculture, it's under "other community-based essential functions":

Commercial retail stores that supply essential sectors, including convenience stores, pet supply stores, auto supplies and repair, hardware and home improvement, and home appliance retailers

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PetSmart does dispense pet prescriptions. If their pharmacies were closed, people who had prescriptions there would have to get their vet to transfer the script somewhere else. Also, pet food ...

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It's pretty clear that pet food stores shouldn't and aren't being forced to closed.

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If you have any doubts as to how we all rely on a complicated network of support, take a look at the detailed list. Certainly opens my eyes. Reminds me of the illustrated books on how things work, including what goes on underground, below the streets, water and sewer. Then my thoughts go to inside the human body—circulatory system. And all the green shoots coming up and trees blossoming. Whole lot of stuff going on. Makes me happy to take a (careful) breath, sing (quietly), and reach out a (virtual) hand...
Good health and spirits to all!

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EDIT: I should learn to read before I go posting:

Commercial retail stores that supply essential sectors, including convenience stores, pet supply stores, auto supplies and repair, hardware and home improvement, and home appliance retailers

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Commercial retail stores that supply essential sectors, including convenience stores, pet supply stores, auto supplies and repair, hardware and home improvement, and home appliance retailers

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Confirmed at my local Home Depot that they will still be open. (as you stated "hardware and home improvement"). I assume Lowes will be open as well. Confirm their hours before you go because local HD is currently closing at 6 PM.

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I consider them a transportation service, but the list seems to only include car rental, not bike rental. Any thoughts?

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Such as the housing rising near English High on Call Street. I walk past there and continue to see people working at the site.

That's some serious mental density.

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The housing on the Hyde Park Ave side of the tracks, just south of Forest Hills.

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We are in the process of foundation work to keep our house from collapsing. Homeworks is funding it. They called and told us the city has stopped all construction and will not be issuing permits. Our engineer is still coming out and poking around and working on drawings, but we can't do any work requiring permits, and Homeworks won't be letting our project go forward at this time.

Obviously the project you mention is already permitted, but it still sounds like they're supposed to halt construction:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/22/business/construction-has-screech...

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Construction sites with more than ten workers were halted. The project in question is almost certainly less than that.

Additionally, there is no expectation for work to stop in such a way that underway projects are left exposed to the elements to be both ruined and turned unsafe.

In these trying times it is very important to not post unsubstantiated garbage without even a cursory bit of research first.

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Kind of off topic, but I've noticed a change in flight patterns coming into Logan. Evenings i have a nice view of the plans lining up to land and yesterday evening the sky seemed empty.

Anyone else?

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Security and Safety personnel are on that list if you download it.

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Apparently, despite the language of the order, ALL biotech R&D is considered essential?

https://www.massbio.org/news/recent-news/ma-gov-baker-orders-all-non-ess...

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Are bakeries restaurants? Or any different from a grocery store? What about other specialty food shops?

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I'd assume a bakery or specialty food shop would be considered a "take out" place or grocery store. I'd call (also check their website and/or instagram page) to confirm they will be open.

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