PROVIDENCE – Beginning at 5 p.m. on Saturday, the city will prohibit gatherings of 10 or more people and close nonessential businesses, including gyms, hair and beauty salons, tattoo parlors and flea markets, Mayor Jorge O. Elorza announced Friday.
The city is also looking for a designated quarantine space for first responders who are infected by the new coronavirus, Elorza said. The decision comes after 10 city police officers were exposed to the virus earlier this week, according to Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare. Other police officers and firefighters are in quarantine as a precaution after traveling, Pare said.
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Acknowledging that government officials had previously sent mixed messages, asking residents to stay home but also to support local businesses, Elorza urged any nonessential workers to stay home.
“We should all take this as an opportunity to come together in common purpose to do everything we can do to flatten the curve, to prevent unnecessary infections and, by extension, unnecessary deaths,” Elorza said.
Businesses affected by the Saturday closure include fitness centers, health clubs, spas, gyms, aquatic centers, hair salons and barbershops, massage parlors, bodywork businesses, beauty salons, tattoo parlors and flea markets.
The city will also continue to crack down on businesses that offer entertainment, dine-in services or host crowds above the mandated limit, Pare said. Two additional restaurants – El Caribeño Restaurant on Academy Avenue and Honduras Restaurant on Manton Avenue – have been forced to close for violating these restrictions, joining six other businesses shuttered for similar reasons.
“What we do today and what we do over the coming weeks will determine whether we’re fighting this pandemic for four to five weeks as opposed to four to five months,” Elorza said.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
