Governor Baker says it is not an order- but he wants people in Massachusetts with second homes in Nantucket to stay on the mainland. Nantucket has a shelter in place after a confirmed case of Covid 19. That shelter in place order, believed the first to be issued in the state, begins at 5pm on Monday and will last as long as April 6th according to officials right now. The Governor says that the issue is with people believing that somehow the Islands would be immune from the Covid Virus
“We have talked to people on both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard who say a lot of people who have second homes there have been going there," Baker told reporters in Boston after an on-line religious service.. "We would prefer they not do that and that they stay on the mainland and don't create additional issues for both of those islands at a point in time when they don't have the level of service capacity in place they typically would have in the summer."
Three men - two in their 70s from Hampden and Berkshire counties and a third man in his 90s from Suffolk County– have died from COVID-19-related illness, bringing the total number of deaths from the novel coronavirus in Massachusetts to five.
Meantime, officials at Nantucket Cottage Hospital have put out an urgent call for retired doctors to sign up and become a part of a special reserve staff in the case of the Covid 19 virus becoming extreme.
Please contact NCH at 508-825-8118 or e-mail sarhodes@partners.org if you are willing to be part of our reserve staff during this challenging time.
(Photo with thanks: Joseph Rossetti Photography)