Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has issued a ‘stay-at-home’ order effective Tuesday, March 24, at noon. It will be in effect for at least two weeks, until April 7 at noon. Governor Baker has said he can extend the order, if necessary. New Hampshire’s Governor Chris Sununu similarly warned this morning that citizens need to get prepared for this event to last longer than originally expected.
The order mandates all ‘non-essential’ businesses to close, subject to local enforcement. The list of essential businesses is nine-pages long. In small type.
The list of essential businesses is similar to other states’ lists that have implemented ‘stay-at-home’ orders. Grocery stores, packies, pharmacies, hospitals, doctors, etc are allowed to remain open. The entire list can be found here. Governor Baker’s order can be found here.
With Massachusetts now implementing a ‘stay-at-home’ order, we can expect pressure to continue to mount for Governor Chris Sununu to do the same. At this point, he should absolutely not impose such a draconian measure.