Gyms, museums, casinos to reopen; but a week later in Boston

COMING BACK: Violin Viiv performs as 3-year-old Nola Davidson dances at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, one of Boston's most popular tourist destinations, as it reopens to the public, Wednesday, July 1, 2020, in Boston. The market, which includes several buildings of retail outlets and restaurants and lined with cobblestone walkways, was closed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON (AP) — Gyms, casinos, museums, movie theaters and guided tours are some of the businesses and cultural activities that can begin welcoming back customers and visitors in Massachusetts as the state launches Phase 3 of its reopening plan on July 6.

In order to open, the facilities will have to meet specific safety protocols, including limiting capacity or instituting timed entries to control how many people are allowed in at a given time, Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday. Tour buses and duck boats will be limited to 50% capacity. In Boston, the Phase 3 reopening will begin a full week later, on July 13.

Professional sports will also be able to resume playing games under Phase 3, but with no spectators in the stands.

Bars and nightclubs will remain closed for now.

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Also during Phase 3, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities can ease some restrictions on visitors provided that there are no new positive cases among staff or residents in a 14-day period.

Baker said Phase 3 will take much longer than prior phases as the state continues to monitor efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus and look for any spikes in cases.

“We’ve made progress but we are far from being out of the woods,” Baker said during a Statehouse press conference Thursday. “The last thing we want to do is to move backward as some states have been forced to do.”

Baker also said he hopes everyone can enjoy the Fourth of July holiday while also remaining safe by avoiding large crowds and continuing to wear face masks in public.

Businesses that have been able to survive after being closed for months are looking forward to reopening said Christopher Carlozzi, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in Massachusetts.

“Unfortunately, the prolonged Massachusetts shutdown has led to many shops and restaurants closing their doors permanently,” he said Thursday in a press release.

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