Second doing their job and isolated from their families. Td isolated from their family. First responders, essential workers, d. C. F. Social workers, bus and train drivers, and many other public servants, who, as always, did what they had to do in order to serve us. But in some cases, suffered terrible loss as a result. Furloughed or laid off workers who despite coming in early and working extra shifts now, by no fault of their own, are left wondering when that job comes back. Everyone suffering under the fear of the unknown amid this pandemic. Everyone who sacrificed a wedding or major moment in life, went without holding their loved ones at the exact time they needed to be held the most. And everyone who lost a friend, brother, sister, a mom, or a dad, there are tens of thousands of you right now in the commonwealth who have grieved for are going through one of the hardest moments of your life. The told this virus takes and continues to take on many of us is staggering. But the response, the fight, the millions of people doing what they have to do to push back has been brave and bigger. The retired medical workers who came back and straight into the covid19 word, the friends and family members who helped one another overcome the fear of the unknown. The parents and guardians who overnight became educators and are still putting in full days working remotely and teaching their kids at home. There are so many examples of massachusetts rising to this occasion and fighting back to list them all. Today, as we start the phased return to our new normal, we are going to ask people once again to rise to the occasion as we continue to fight this virus. Our collective success depends on everyone. Government, the private sector, and especially individuals playing their part to move us forward. Today, we lay out a roadmap to reopening massachusetts while we continue to fight covid19. These two will be inseparable. Getting back to work and fighting covid until there is a medical breakthrough with treatments were vaccine. And we cannot move forward unless we commit to continuing to slow the spread. To achieve that goal of reopening while continuing to bring the fight every day, i tasked the Lieutenant Governor to work with housing and Economic Development secretary to bring together experts from across massachusetts. They listened and learned from hundreds of points of view. Local government leaders. Nonprofits, labor leaders, and small and large employers to name just a few. At the same time, the health and Human Services secretary consulted massachusetts worldclass health care leaders, and together, our administration developed this plan to move forward. We will progress through four phases. Opening more sectors of the economy and activities only when the Public Health data indicate it is appropriate to do so. Each phase will last at least three weeks but may last longer if the Public Health data doesnt support moving forward. As i said earlier, covid19 has and will continue to take a toll in massachusetts. It remains up to all of us, government, the employer community, and most of all, the rest of us, as individuals, to continue to fight back against the virus because that is the way we move forward through the phases. The report lays out not only wish sectors of the economy are slated to open and when but it lays out how businesses reopen while fighting the spread. And most importantly, this report lays out what individuals must do to enable us all to move through these phases. This effort will hinge fundamentally on personal responsibility. As everyone knows, we are not helpless in this fight. We all have roles to play. And you have proven time and time again that you can play them. We continue to ask everyone to do four things. Cover your nose and mouth when you cant distance yourself. The science is clear. Simple Face Coverings prevent the spread of this disease incredibly effectively. Wash your hands and wash surfaces often. This one needs no explanation. Keep your distance. Again, we all know this one by now, but its as important today as it ever been and more so as we start this reopening process. The more we stay about six feet apart from one another whenever possible, the more we stop the spread. And lastly, stay vigilant for symptoms and stay home if you think youre sick. We all know this one by now too. Alone, each of these four things can be highly effective at slowing and killing the virus. We have the Scientific Research now that makes that much clearer. But together, these four things are exponentially more powerful. And we are asking the private sector to support their employees, to be creative, to support working remotely whenever possible, and to follow the guidance that our team developed to prevent further spread. Sticking with these critical tasks is everyones responsibility. And how well we do them will dictate how well we open massachusetts. State and local governments will continue to step up testing capabilities alongside our community tracing program. Testing and tracing will remain integral to getting ahead of this virus, containing it, and a critical part of our ability to keep the economy moving. As i said before, we have all been doing our job to fight back. And as a result, positive case rates are moving in the right direction and hospitalizations are down. The Public Health metrics that guide this process mean its possible to reopening manufacturing facilities and construction sites effective today. And were permitting more sectors of our economy to open effective may 25 and others on june 1 under phase i. Lieutenant governor polito will talk more about how this law lays out new rules of the road for each of those industries, and specifically the things businesses need and must do in order to reopen while effectively fighting the virus. These first steps, manufacturing and construction, provided these businesses all the guidance weve developed as limited facetoface and customer interactions. In many similar operations open now under the essential order, have been responsibly balance them balancing, operating, and fighting the virus as well. Starting a week from now, were permitting office space to reopen to 25 of its capacity except in boston. On may 25, retail establishments may offer Curbside Service and some personal services such as barbershops and hair salons may reopen provided they follow the new rules in this report. Places of worship will also be permitted to open with guidelines in place starting today. A number of outdoor facilities and recreation activities may also resume a week from now as well as in accordance with those new rules. Our Healthcare Facilities will be permitted to begin seeing more patients on an agreedupon schedule over the next two weeks. I want to make clear that the reopening Advisory Board and the team made every effort to be as clear and direct as possible when it comes to the new requirements these businesses must follow. But this is something no ones ever done before. Shutter, then reopen everything, from a beachfront to a factory floor, with standards in place to slow the spread of a highly contagious virus. So, i ask everyone to keep this in mind. This guidance asks people to change behaviors. And it changes the way some of our Favorite Places look and feel. This is not permanent. At some point, there will be treatments and ultimately a vaccine. But for the foreseeable future, Everyone Needs to continue to do the right things to bring the fight to the virus so we can continue to move forward. Today, the department of Public Health also updated the stayathome advisory to reflect this stage of the reopening process. The new, safer at home advisory instructs everyone to stay home unless they are headed to a newly opened the facility or activity and also advises those over the age of 65 and those with Underlying Health conditions to stay at home except for absolutely necessary trips for things Like Health Care and groceries. This new advisory is important. As we enter this phased reopening, it is important to remember everyone is safer at home. The virus will be with us throughout the reopening process. And everyones required to cover their nose and mouth if you cant maintain six feet of distance from those around you. Everyone has a responsibility to wash their hands, distance themselves from others, and be vigilant about symptoms so that you can stay home and you could you should stay home if you feel sick. How well everyone does these things will determine how well we move into later phases. Youve all heard me say that we cannot afford to take one step forward only to be forced to take two steps back. I know we all prefer to believe that the virus is less serious now and that it is behind us. Its nice outside. I understand that weeks feel like months. I think we understand all of this. Collectively, we have flattened the curve and avoided the spike in cases that would have broken our Healthcare System. But if we dont keep up the fight and dont do the things that we all know we have to do, and know we can do, we run the risk of creating a second spike in the fall. Weve asked a lot of the people in the commonwealth since this all began, and thankfully millions and millions of people have answered the call and played their part. Once again, people need to be vigilant, they need to be careful, and they need to understand the role that they can play themselves as we continue to bring this fight to the virus. Its how we move forward together. With that, ill turn it over to the Lieutenant Governor. Lt. Gov. Polito thank you, governor, and good morning. Id like to start by first acknowledging the members of the reopening Advisory Board. On behalf of our entire administration, we are incredibly grateful to all of you and your work. This plan required a tremendous amount of thought, planning, and preparation by the board. In the many hours and days that we Work Together, our process was deep and diverse, and consistent of a collective group of voices that engaged in a productive dialogue to lay out this plan. This board consisted of an extremely talented group of dedicated people, and as we met with associations and businesses and residents, the members of the board were engaged and compassionate, and ensured a variety of voices were listened to and were at that table. Our work also would not have been possible without extensive municipal engagement. From officials at the local level across our commonwealth, we are thankful for the direct involvement of the many mayors and town managers who advised us and worked with us. And while we have made clear that the Public Health data and guidance will dictate the timeline of moving into new phases, it is important that we continue to listen to and support our businesses across this commonwealth. Specifically, we have established a new restaurant accommodations and tourism workgroup consisting of industry representatives and municipal leaders that we will continue to have discussions with to help us determine the industryspecific protocols for meeting our Safety Standards. This group will help us shape the guidance that will allow these industries to reopen, and when the data allows for it, they will do so safely and with in mind the need to continue to fight the virus. As the governor said, we will continue to support the Business Community as they implement the mandatory Workplace Safety standards for reopening that we announced last week. Businesses operating to provide essential services will have until may 25 to comply with these mandatory Safety Standards. Businesses newly opening in phase i must comply with these standards before they open. And as we reopen and keep fighting covid19, we are providing three areas of guidance for each sector, industry, and business to follow. Youve heard us talk about the General Social guidance, covering, washing, and distancing. And for businesses, the mandatory Safety Standards for their workplace and the sectorspecific safety protocols and best practices about how to meet those standards. Specific guidance and recommended best practices aimed to reduce the risk of covid19 transmission in specific industries so that each industry safely reopens. Businesses are expected to implement these protocols and in addition to the general mandatory workplace standards. So, standards and the protocols and the best practices are offered to help businesses comply. Starting today, the materials for the businesses and sectors eligible to open in the first phase are included on the reopen massachusetts website ay t mass. Gov reopening. Each sector will have access to a sector circular to document. A resource which will include specific mandatory Safety Standards and recommended best practices and social distancing, hygiene protocols, staffing and operations, and cleaning and disinfecting for each sector. They will also have access to a sector checklist, included in the circular and developed to serve as a guidance for employers and businesses of all sizes as they adjust their operations. The administration will require businesses to selfcertify. And what that means is that businesses must develop a covid19 control plan outlining how its workplace will implement the Safety Standards in order to prevent the spread of covid19. These required materials are located on the reopen massachusetts website, and they include a covid19 control plan template. This is a draft. You do not need to reinvent the wheel. This is a place for you to start, you should use it. A compliance attestation poster demonstrating to your workforce and the public that you have incorporated these Safety Standards into your workplace, and are posted to show. And signs and posters describing the rules for maintaining distancing, hygiene protocol, cleaning and disinfecting. Again, businesses in phase i must complete these steps in order to open, and essential businesses that have been operating will be required to complete these steps by may 25. These Workplace Safety standards will be jointly enforced by local boards of health, the department of Public Health, and the department of labor standards. We will Work Together with our partners at the local level to move forward through this process. Most Enforcement Actions may come from a worker or a customer who might initiate a complaint. But the goal with enforcement is to educate and promote compliance. We want workplaces to be safer and to incorporate these standards into their places of operation. In working with cities and towns, we will support our businesses and give them the tools they need to succeed as they make adjustments and welcome back their workers. And as we continue to move forward towards a new normal, we will continue to post the guidance for sectors opening in later phases online and in advance, so businesses in this time of uncertainty can prepare and plan for when that time comes. Governor baker outlined what we can expect to see in phases. And its important that we continue to each play our part and be cautious and careful as we together work to reopen, so that we can move forward and not backwards. We will continue to follow the data to make determinations of gathering sizes, restrictions, and capacity limitations based upon the trends. And we know that many of our homegrown businesses in every corner of our state are suffering. We want to get everyone back up and running when its appropriate to do so based on the Public Health metrics outlined today. And it bears repeating that massachusetts has been one of the hardest hit states in our country. Right behind new york and new jersey. And we must be cautious and vigilant as we reopen. And as i mentioned about planning and preparing, our restaurant accommodations and tourism workgroup convened this past weekend, and we will help them develop procedures for safe reopening. And campgrounds and playgrounds and community pools, athletic fields and youth sports will resume operations in phase ii with guidelines. We currently plan that phase iii will allow for the opening of the arts and entertainment, gyms, and other business activities. This will all push us towards phase iv, a full resumption of activity and what described as a new normal. If your business is listed in phase ii or phase iii, in order to start working on your reopening plans now you can visit the website, the reopen massachusetts website, to access the general Workplace Safety standards that all businesses are required to comply with. So, you can get a head start and look at those and start to think about how you will adjust your workplace. There are a couple of key components that transcend all of this. Our childcare and Public Transportation. In march, we stood up an Emergency Childcare system to support children of essential workers and vulnerable families. With extra virus mitigation protocols. We are incredibly grateful to those providers who have stepped forward in the midst of this crisis to provide these essential Childcare Services to children and families. Now, during phase i, the Emergency Childcare system we have already in place will be utilized to meet the needs of people with no alternatives for care. We are also encouraging families to continue to find any alternatives to group care to help stem the spread of the virus. Now, currently, only 35 of our Emergency Childcare capacity is occupied. And the system has capacity to serve more families, to provide care options as more workers head back to work and sectors become active again. The system we established, as you may recall, has capacity or 10,000 children statewide. And we are 35 capacity today. As the next step, the department of Early Education and care and dba are developing Additional Health and Safety Standards which are being reviewed by childrens hospital, to make sure when we are ready to fully reopen childcare camps that we are ready. We will have more to say on that as we prepare for the future phases. In that same vein, we are aware summer camps serve an important purpose. Not only for our children, but for our families. Dph is partnering with local boards of health to develop Health Guidelines to be implemented in over 1400 camps across our state. To enable a safe reopening of those activities. Pending Public Health data, it is possible that camps could reopen in phase ii with limitations and specific Safety Standards in line with cdc guidance. That should be available in the next couple of weeks, the timelines and the guidelines that we apply. Now on transit, we know how important Public Transportation is for the daytoday lives of workers and families. The mbta has been and will continue to implement measures to slow the spread of covid19 across the system. We cannot significantly reduce the risk of transmission across the system without the cooperation of customers and the employer community. Riders are required to wear Face Coverings, and must make efforts to distance. Employers are encouraged to stagger schedules and implement work from home policies to reduce demand during rush hours. Moving forward, to mitigate risk while providing appropriate levels of service, the mbta will do the following. In phase i, support the Transit Needs of essential workers and those returning the workplace while continuing with limited service to maximize employee and rider safety. Ramp up to a modified version of full service by phase iii. The t will also frequently disinfect and clean vehicles in stations and provide protective supplies to workers. The t will also actively communicate Public Health guidance and schedule adjustments in station, online, and over social media. In close, before i turn it over to secretary kennealy, i want to say that today as we move forward in implementing this plan, i am confident in everyones ability to play their role, individuals and businesses, everyone must do their part. Following through on the measures we are developing in the private sectors responsibility and individuals. Everyone has to do their part. The next few weeks are really important to make sure, as the governor said, we are vigilant, cautious, and doing our part. And together with state and local governments, supporting businesses, and helping them incorporate the Workplace Safety standards in each step of the way, the commonwealth can stay ahead of this virus and safely and successfully reopen massachusetts. And as we balance the shared goals of maintaining both Public Safety as well as activating our economy, we are faced with a new challenge of living with the virus. Our roadmap provides us with a plan and a direction point to get started. The saying that tough times never last, tough people do, is never more appropriate than now. The people of massachusetts are strong. We are resilient. Weve come through tough times before, and we will come through this tough time again. We will continue to fight this battle and we will get through this together. I now want to turn it over to secretary kennealy, but i wish to thank him and the acd staff in the lg staff for amazing focus, your strength and leadership, for keeping us on task, for meeting this deadline. Its been a real honor to work with you on this very, very Important Development of a plan, but more so for helping to balance the safety and the needs of the Business Community of our commonwealth. With that, secretary kennealy. Good morning and thank you governor and Lieutenant Governor. I feel honored as well, and our team has stepped up. In the last few months, weve dealt with a new economic reality in our state and our country and around the world, and in the many communities, businesses, and people that make up our economy have suffered, but we are confident today we can Work Together to get up and running again. Now, about three weeks ago the governor announced the formation of the reopening Advisory Board, cochaired by myself and the Lieutenant Governor, and made up of 17 leaders in healthcare, business, and municipal government. We had spent the last three weeks meeting and collaborating with more than 75 business associations, labor unions, nonprofits, and Community Coalitions that collectively represent more than 112,000 businesses and more than two million employees. We also considered more than 4600 pieces of written feedback. We engaged stakeholders and analyzed information in over 45 hours of zoom meetings. And if you look at this list, i think its just an amazing list. We are so grateful to all these folks who stepped forward to views. Heir this list truly does represent the strength and diversity of our state. And to each of my fellow board members, i just cant thank you enough for your professionalism, your active engagement, and your unwavering commitment throughout this process. Your input was invaluable to crafting this reopening plan and we will continue to rely on your insights as we move through the fourphase reopening. And were so mindful always of the great sacrifices that businesses have made during this pandemic. As we reopen massachusetts, we will look to our companies, large and small, to be partners in reducing the spread of covid19 in workplaces. And this commitment will be absolutely essential as we move through all four phases of reopening, and i want to highlight a few things in particular here. First and foremost, if businesses are able, we strongly encourage you to have your employees continue to work from home. And this is incredibly important to the reopening plan, because reducing the number of employees in the workplace reduces the risk of covid19 transmission and will help reduce the number of employees that need to utilize Public Transit and childcare. Secondly, if your Business Model does require employees to come back to a physical workplace, we encourage you to think about ways that you can stagger shifts. We also encourage you to give priority for Workplace Accommodations to employees over the age of 65, as well as employees with Underlying Health conditions. And third, to reopen safely, it will be important for businesses to get the right supplies. Sanitation supplies, cleaning supplies, hygienic supplies. And we have two things to say in that regard. We have done two things to address those concerns. First, we have developed educational materials that will define how an employer should prepare their workplaces to reopen and what products are appropriate for employees to protect themselves at work. For example, these materials and these will be on our website we will explain what can be used as a Face Covering, how to r it safely, when gloves are necessary, and which materials to use for disinfecting and sanitizing. In our many discussions with Industry Groups and others, we felt the need for a lot more clarity on some of these matters. For example, medical grade Face Coverings are not necessary for workers in most industries and should be reserved for healthcare workers and first responders. The second way we tried to supplieshis need for is that we have launched a portal to connect massachusetts businesses in need of supplies with manufacturers who are producing and selling these materials in the commonwealth. And this portal does include the made in massachusetts manufacturers that have pivoted to producing these supplies as part of the massachusetts manufacturing Emergency Response team. I think when the governor first announced, as he said, it was an inspiring effort, and it really is. Its been inspiring to watch 430 companies from massachusetts commit to every purpose their production lines commit to re purpose their production lines to make this material, and 27 companies have gone all the way through the process and produced about 3. 5 million pieces of ppe to date. It has been a terrific effort. For our companies, we want to be partners in this reopening, so please purchase the supplies, implement Safety Measures, train your employees, protect your customers. For more information on our reopening Advisory Board and all these resources, go to mass. Gov reopening, and we look forward to working with you. Thank you. I think im now going to turn it over to secretary sudders. Yeah, all right. Sec. Sudders secretary kennealy, Lieutenant Governor, governor, commissioner burrell. Good morning. We are grateful for the exceptional effort from our Healthcare System in response to the pandemic. From our hospital emergency departments, our intensive care units, to our Community Health centers who are responding to community needs, including testing and contact tracing, and Everything Else that a Community Health center does. Our Healthcare Systems never shut down during the pandemic. In fact, they stepped up. Telehealth has reached thousands of massachusetts residents to meet their physical and behavioral healthcare needs remotely, and we need for that to continue. As part of the governors reopening plan, effective today, we are allowing highpriority preventative services, including pediatric care, immunizations, and chronic disease for high risk patients. And urgent procedures for care that were deferred but are now at risk. Across the commonwealth, our acute Care Hospital system has 30 availability or both icu and medical surgical inpatient care. Acute Care Hospitals and federally qualified or hospital licensed Health Centers who have tested to meeting specific capacity and Safety Standards such as having adequate ppe, workforce and patient screenings, may expand their services. These services are intentional to meet the needs of highrisk populations, including communities of color and our children. Expanded services include, as i said, highpriority preventative services, including pediatric care, and urgent procedures that cannot be delivered remotely and would lead to highrisk or high risk for significant worsening of the patients condition if deferred based upon the providers clinical judgment. Effective may 25, other Healthcare Providers who can attest to meeting specific capacity and Safety Standards will be allowed to provide a limited set of diagnostic and treatment procedures. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of continuing telehealth. Providers should continue to maximize it and provide services virtually wherever possible and appropriate. Individuals with nonemergent needs should call their Health Care Provider to determine next steps. Details of our healthcare and Human Services openings can be found on the mass. Gov covid19 webpage. As we begin to reopen, we must be prepared for them to increase in positive cases, for potential hotspots to occur. Expanded testing and tracing are crucial to beating back the disease. As the governor highlighted last week, to support increased Testing Capacity, we will submit our covid19 testing plan to the federal government no later than may 24. Our future state protecting includes increasing capacity for 45,000 tests per day by the end of july, and increasing that number to 75,000 by the end of december. Our goal is to decrease our positive test rates to less than 5 . And we want to expand Lab Processing capacity to prepare for a potential fall surge, and to test residents and patients in highrisk congregate settings, including our Skilled Nursing facilities, correctional facilities, and stateoperated operated or financed state hospitals and group homes. We want to ensure the Testing Capacity for individuals who are symptomatic, who are asymptomatic, and who been in you have been in close contact with someone with covid19 very recently, and individuals whose employment places them at high risk of exposure to individuals who are covid19 positive. We will also use federal dollars to improve access and turnaround to provide for same day or next day results from the majority of tests. Implementing this strategy is contingent upon federal funding. Our plan is not for universal testing everyone in the state. Covid19 current testing options are constrained but rapidly changing, and the cost to deploy at scale is prohibitive, so our plan prepares us for the future of more economical and feasible testing options, concomitant with vigilant social distancing protocols and guidance and measured reopening strategies. That is our new normal. Once a week we will release a Public Safety dashboard, a stoplight, if you will, red, yellow, and green, of six indicators to note our progress. Marked trending positive, in progress, or trending negative. They include what is our covid19 positive test rates, the number of individuals who have died from covid19, the number of hospitalized patients with covid19, our Healthcare System readiness, our Testing Capacity, and contact tracing. The daily fact packs that many of you know will be modified a little for Additional Data elements, including individual hospital capacity, icu in total, and additional longterm care data, among others. As you note, today two of the indicators are green. Healthcare system readiness and the decline in covid positive test rates. As i said, across the state, we have 30 availability for both icu and medical surgical beds. Individual hospitals may vary, and we are only using approximately one third of our current Testing Capacity, which is why that is also green. The others are in progress. And of course, until we only have a handful or no deaths, we can never say that we are trending positive in that area. In order to sustain the progress to date and to move us forward in the reopening of our commonwealth, all of us must continue to be vigilant about hygiene, wearing Face Coverings, and engaging in social distancing. These very important Public Health and Safety Measures are our best tools at this time to protect ourselves, our coworkers, our families, and our communities. Thank you. Governor . Gov. Baker questions . Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker first of all, as the Lieutenant Governor said in her comments about the work of the Advisory Board, we do have a significant amount of capacity thats currently available in the childcare side in the short term. And folks are continuing to work on creating what we would call the appropriately safe operating model for childcare Going Forward. And this is something where we have had conversations with our colleagues in other states and in some cases with our colleagues in other countries. Its one of those issues that Everybody Knows they need to find an answer on, and we fully expect as we roll forward to roll forward, we are going to have to find one too. But in the meantime, there will be significant capacity available for the existing system. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker thats part of the reason why you folks put together the attestations sheet s for the businesses, yes . Why dont you speak to that . Lt. Gov. Polito first of all, this is a roadmap, and its a start. I am so grateful to all the hospital care, all the frontline workers that made this day possible. And the roadmap is indeed just that. But we also heard throughout this process, the reopening stakeholders, industry leaders, Business Owners about their readiness and also about the barriers to reopening. The readiness is their readiness to transform their workplace in terms of incorporating the safety features needed so that their workers and the public that they do business with would feel safe. So i think thats really important and why we have worked really hard with municipal officials and really listening to the Business Leaders about that readiness piece, because its about developing confidence for workers to feel safe in returning to their jobs. And as part of that standard, the Employer Needs to address, what if my employee becomes sick with covid while working . And to develop a plan around that as part of their reopening strategy. And we also have taken into consideration the enablers around childcare and transportation. There are some employees that cant work from home, and to develop safe options for them to care for their children, as well as safe options for them to access Public Transportation. And then we cant state enough how important, as we begin to reopen some activities, and the way we decided how to open is to balance the Public Health and safety needs with the level of risk associated with that kind of business and workplace. And to measure, monitor, and survey over the next three weeks and see how were doing. And thats why its really important, as the governor said, as the secretary said, as we have said as a board, that people need to do their part. Employers and people at home, as you take on more activities. Face coverings, distancing, and handwashing are key to unlocking next phases of activity. Reporter will there be fines for people who dont comply . Lt. Gov. Polito i would like to just put compliance into perspective. Because we dont want to have fine. Right . What weve done through preparing these specific protocols and best practices, which weve done with businesses, talking to us about how they would incorporate these Safety Standards into their workplaces, is to make what is challenging, to change their workplace, an easier task to accomplish. Thats why we laid out best practices. Laid out guidances, laid out literally a howto document, prepared a template that this is what your safety plan components need to look like. Heres the document. Heres a checklist so that you can verify that you have incorporated these features into your workplace, and then a poster to literally demonstrate to the public and demonstrate to your workforce that you have incorporated these safety features as you reopen. So, compliance is a responsibility that an employer has, but whos going to keep them hold them accountable . It will be a worker that doesnt feel that they are putting that practice in place, or a customer who doesnt see that these Safety Standards are in place. And when that happens, that person could call their local board of health and then the enforcement of that standard in that workplace will be done in conjunction with local boards of health, our department of Public Health, and our department of labor and standards. And if there are multiple checkins with this workplace and they still havent complied, that is where a Fine Associated with a disobedience of the standard would come into play. Reporter [inaudible] lt. Gov. Polito yes, its laid out specifically in the guidance that we have shared with municipalities. Weve done a lot of work with our municipalities to lay out this enforcement program, including laying out the specific fines for not complying. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker first of all, i think the most important thing that has to happen here is it has to be done safely and it has to be done in compliance with the best practice standards that are available, and in this particular case the t wants to get this right, and so do we. Its mostly a function of making sure we get it right. Reporter governor, on twitter you are getting hammered from both sides. Gov. Baker really . [laughter] didnt Jennifer Hall ask me that question last week . Reporter some want to know if you are going to resign. Why is what you are presenting here today the right way . Gov. Baker first of all, we said from the beginning on this that we were going to follow what i would describe as best practices and data. And the data that weve been able to collect through the work of the reopening Advisory Board and through the work that is done at the command center and the department of Public Health has been used to incorporate and build this plan. And i think if you also talk to and look at what people in other countries and people in other states are doing with respect to how theyre Going Forward on this stuff and the way they are choosing to measure and monitor what happens as a result of that, these are all elements that we have basically baked into our proposal. And i fully expect that on a go forward basis, because of the incredible amount of anxiety that comes with both ends of this picture, which is the concern about the publichealth piece, which we completely understand, and we spend a tremendous amount of time talking about, monitoring, and god bless the people of massachusetts to get us to where we are on that one. On the economic side, there is tremendous anxiety associated with that, and we understand that as well. But the reopening Advisory Board, which has very smart people in it, and i met with one billion different organizations of one kind or another. They basically laid out what they felt was a careful and a cautious approach to this. When we talked about this last week, i said, jonathan, what are people going to say when you put this out . They are going to say we are going too fast and they are going to say we are not going fast enough. And i would just remind everybody that we believe this report, developed by a lot of really bright, smart people who both work in various sectors in the commonwealth, live in different regions and operate in different regions of the commonwealth, have contacts and relationships with people in other states and other countries to help inform our decisionmaking, along with the very talented and worldclass health care and Public Health people we have, developed what they consider to be a balanced approach to this. The one point i would make to everybody, and i said this five times in my opening remarks, the process associated with these phases is a function of how we do. And how we do is a function of how we do with respect to managing the Public Health issues as we begin this reopening process. People need to understand, they need to have a Face Covering if they cant keep their distance from other people. Keeping distance from other people would be best. Wash hands, hygiene, all that stuff. Surfaces and all the rest. And recognize and understand that we are going to Pay Attention to the public data as we move forward, and its going to be critically important for people to continue to do the things that theyve been doing to get us to this point over the course of the past 60 days. Reporter what if we do see a spike . Feel confidentu do you feel pressured to go ahead . Gov. Baker i said all along that what was really going to drive our decisionmaking around this was going to be data and to the extent there were experiences in other places we can rely on, we would rely on that as well. And i think the pace we are moving at, i think the way the phases were set up in the report, i think the work they they did in conjunction with folks in the health care community, and i especially believe the work that we have done already to develop our testing and then develop a tracing initiative and continue to grow and expand that are the right things to be doing at the right rate of speed. Reporter [inaudible] if all goes according to plan, early august, if things go smoothly . Gov. Baker i would say the construction and the manufacturing pieces build on what we describe and what you would describe as existing operating models. But i would say that the industryspecific guidelines and the global guidelines are ones they all have to comply with whether they have been open or not. And i think for some of them, thats going to require some work over the course of the next few days, which is appropriate and necessary. With respect to the time frame around this, at least three weeks between phases, but it could be more. And that is going to be a function, folks, of the data. And it says it right in the report, that the move to a next phase is going to be a function of a review of how were doing in the phase that we are in, and that is going to be all about the Public Health data. Reporter what if the publichealth data does show that there are spikes and hotspots . You may have to shut things down again. Gov. Baker i think one of the reasons for expanding our testing protocol and investing in our tracing program is so that we have the ability to act quickly if we do come across outbreaks or hotspots. I certainly think we are going to be riveted to this notion that we all have a responsibility with respect to dealing with the virus, and Everybody Needs to keep doing the things they have been doing. We have put a very aggressive testing protocol in place. Were going to build on it, we have a very aggressive testing tracing program. We are going to build on that. And we are going to do the things we need to do in partnership with our colleagues here in the commonwealth to try to limit the growth of the virus. But people need to understand that we are playing this game, and its a real one with the virus and the economy at the same time. And it is really important for people to step up and recognize and understand that this game is not over. Reporter there are six metrics. If there is one red, can we move forward . Gov. Baker the way i would describe the metrics, and we talked a little bit about this, the reason there is not one and the reason there is six is because they operate as a package. And were going to rely on the guidance we get from these folks and from the medical Advisory Board at the command center with respect to how to interpret these numbers as we move forward. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker say again . Reporter why is our plan different than some neighboring states . Gov. Baker i would say a couple things about that. One is, you know, we got hit a lot harder by covid19 and by the coronavirus than most other states. In fact, there are really only, depending upon how you do the math, there are only two or three that got hit harder than we did. But the top five, for all intents and purposes, is new york, new jersey, massachusetts, illinois, michigan. Those are the top five states that took the biggest hit associated with covid19. By any way you would choose to measure it. And i think that creates, for us, a different way of thinking about how we work our way out of this than you might see in places that didnt have the same seriously consequential hit that we had. Reporter [inaudible] is there still concern about traveling to massachusetts . Gov. Baker yeah, sure. Reporter delivery only to other retail. There is no change to are you still concerned about gov. Baker yeah, sure, absolutely. First of all, if youre going to do curbside, it make sense to do curbside for everybody. The whole point behind curbside is it does not require people to go inside and stand around. Theres plenty of evidence at this point that inside spaces with a long period of time in which people are there, especially if they dont have the ability to socially distance, is probably the biggest and most significant opportunity for spread, which is why the curbside piece to some extent is a much more viable and attractive option, especially given the fact that our numbers are sort of green and mostly yellow with respect to a lot of the key measures here. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker our view is not without change in state law. Reporter houses of worship often have older people going in. You expressed reservations about reopening. [inaudible] gov. Baker so it is our hope that one of the things that flashes all the way through this report is, you know, vulnerable populations. Protect vulnerable populations, ok . Vulnerable populations should do everything they possibly can to stay at home and to recognize and understand the significant risks that covid19 presents for them. And i think its our hope that that will be something that our colleagues in the religious community will take very seriously when they think about how they want to offer in Person Services to their congregations. The guidance that was developed on this is very particular and very clear. And again, it came out of conversations with a bunch of folks in the religious community as well as folks in the healthcare and Public Health community. Ive said from the beginning, and i know the Lieutenant Governor feels the same way because we have talked about it, that taking away the opportunity for people to worship together was one of the worst of all of the decisions that we had to make in all this. And i am expecting and anticipating, based on the conversations the reopening Advisory Board had with communities of faith, and weve had with communities of faith, that people will be diligent and serious about making sure that what they do with regard to reopening will work for them and for their congregation. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker i think yeah, they are on the website. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker thats one of the reasons why we created the task force, to take a look at the issues associated with those particular industries, and that will obviously one of the issues the Lieutenant Governor and the secretary and the task force speak to. Are State Government offices going to reopen . Gov. Baker State Government i cant speak for the the building basically is managed on a tripartite basis between us and the legislature, although it is more the peoples building and the legislatures building than it is ours. They and we are talking about how they want to handle this place and space. But State Government generally is, on the executive side, has been open all the way through here, and the big challenge for us, and it will roll out over the course of the next couple of weeks, and we will obviously make sure people have noticed, is were going to have to open up some stuff that we either started doing online, or dramatically reduce the amount of customer facing activity that we did. And we will be rolling that out over the course of the next few weeks. But we fully expect to put as much of what we possibly can back in service. Reporter the may 25 deadline, does that also apply to firearm sellers . Are they expected to adhere to the parameters of the federal judges . Gov. Baker federal order. Federal order. Reporter with respect to games, youth sporting games, people are wondering about the socks, about the sox, patriots. Gov. Baker the youth sports stuff is being worked through the reopening Advisory Board and there are a lot of people who, frankly, i gave you guys some really good ideas about how to do this. The professional stuff is running through a different channel. Reporter [inaudible] gov. Baker no. Last question. Gov. Baker say again . Reporter under the guidelines, colleges and universities are allowed to reopen. Do you think they should . Gov. Baker well, its mostly reopening for purposes of what i would describe as sort of lab work and research with guidelines, ok. Both they have to abide by the general guidelines and they have to abide by industry industryspecific guidelines. The conversation about the fall, the discussion there, is the conversation about the fall, the discussion there, is ongoing. And i would expect that to get resolved at some point over the course of the next four or five weeks, but that hasnt been, that hasnt been answered yet. Reporter what are the options gov. Baker say again. Reporter for businesses that are reopening, what is their testing option . Will they be expected to send employees elsewhere . Gov. Baker i think what i would say first of all is a lot of that would be laid out in the federal application. But at this point in time, there are sort of four levels of testing which the secretary poke to. Broader definition around symptomatic testing, asymptomatic testing of close contacts, testing of people who work on a continual basis with folks who are dealing with covid, which would be healthcare folks and some of the folks in municipal government and State Government, and then folks who work with vulnerable populations. And then underneath that would be employerbased testing, where we are basically going to put up the capacity and it is going to be up to them to decide what to think the appropriate protocol for them and their employees based on whatever the circumstances are. Eporter [inaudible] do you have any advice for them . Gov. Baker like around something in particular . Reporter [inaudible] gatherings of 10 or more people that may happen. Gov. Baker the biggest thing i would say, first of all, about memorial day is there are many communities that have events for memorial day that are typically held at cemeteries and other sort of sacred ground. And i know communities are going to work hard to make sure that if they do events like that, the people are appropriately distance and they wear masks and they do all the things they are supposed to do. That is a very important event, and i know for many people, including the two of us, its an especially important one. I guess what i would say is people need to continue to use their heads on this stuff and to recognize and understand that were still in the middle of this virus, that its not gone away, that we still a positive tests every single day in massachusetts, that weve made a lot of progress on hospitalizations, but were continuing to carry a lot of our Surge Capacity on the hospital side forward because we believe we may need it, and it needs to be there as part of the system, and that what people really need to do is be smart and vigilant and recognize and understand that with respect to whatever they choose to do. But thats pretty much been the message we have delivered around almost all activities, and certainly around outdoor activities. Just be take advantage of the guidance that so many people have made available and understand and recognize that its really important for us, whatever you choose to do, that you not spread the virus or get it from somebody else. Reporter could you clarify the difference between the stayathome and safer at ome . Gov. Baker i think it says right at the bottom of the thing. You should limit your play dates. The safer at home order looks lot like the stayathome order excuse me, advisory, advisory. What it does is it incorporates some of the new guidance ssociated with the reopening advisory and the order associated with that into the safer at home guidance. Its not a dramatic departure from where we were, but it does reflect the fact that we are pursuing at this point a phased reopening strategy. Thank you. Reporter [inaudible]gov. Baker we will see. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] sign up today for cspans newsletter, word for word providing new update daily to the coronavirus Pandemic Response from state governors, white house briefings and important updates from congress. Sign up today, it is easy. Enter your email in the word for word signup box. New york governor andrew briefing with reporters on the coronavirus response. He says western new york can start with phase one opening. From buffalo, this is 50 minutes. Gov. Cuomo good morning. Pleasure to be in buffalo. You know the gov. Cuomo good morning. Pleasure to be in buffalo. You know the people with me but just in case youve been living under a rock, to my far right,
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