Kennealy: Business reopening needs to be methodical
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Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy
Massachusetts state officials are carefully weighing coronavirus trends as they slowly reopen businesses and other public places so they don't have to reverse and close back up again, the state's secretary of housing and economic development said Thursday.
The secretary, Mike Kennealy, said in an online forum hosted by the Corridor 9/495 Regional Chamber of Commerce state leaders are looking carefully at a few health indicators to gauge when it's safe to return more to normal operations. They're looking at rates of positive test results, hospitalizations, the number of hospitals at surge capacity, and deaths.
Each of those indicators has been trending in positive directions in the last few weeks.
"We've said from the beginning that the reopening will be driven by public health data and that the reopening will be phased," said Kennealy, who co-chairs the state's task force guiding Gov. Charlie Baker's decisions on operations for businesses and public gathering.
Construction and manufacturing operations restarted on Monday in the first phase, which opened non-essential businesses where there isn't as much physical proximity, especially to the public. By May 25, more businesses will be set to re-open including offices, laboratories, hair salons and barbershops. Restaurants are not yet able to reopen for dine-in services but will be included in a second phase with expected limits on capacity to keep people appropriately distanced.
"We're asked quite a bit about when phase two will start and the answer is, we don't know," Kennealy said.
The state expects to ramp up testing to far greater levels than available today as a way to better determine how widespread the virus is and whether it's safe for people to frequent restaurants and other businesses. Testing, which today peaks at roughly 13,000 per day, is expected to jump to 45,000 a day by July and 75,000 by December, he said.
Officials are also considering the viability of seasonal businesses in places like Cape Cod and the Berkshires, Kennealy said. That will be balanced with not wanting to reopen too quickly.
"In our view, the worst possible outcome is that we reopen too quickly and have to go back," he said.
The Reopening Advisory Board heard from more than 75 business associations, unions and other groups representing more than 112,000 businesses and more than 2 million employees, Kennealy said.
The board includes Worcester Polytechnic Institute President Laurie Leshin and eClinicalWorks CEO and Co-founder Girish Navani of Westborough.
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