Coronavirus restrictions now set to ease Feb. 8 for library pickups, movies, other indoor places
The city’s current coronavirus restrictions are extended one week to the start of Feb. 8, officials said in a Friday email.
In January, the expectation had been to end the current restrictions at the turn of the month.
That means that as of Feb. 8 – called a return to “Phase III, Step 1” of the state’s reopening plan from the city’s “modified Phase II, Step 2” – the following can open their doors and return to operating under their specific pandemic guidelines and limitations:
- Museums
- Indoor historic spaces and sites
- Movie theaters
- Sightseeing and other organized tours
- Indoor events spaces such as meeting rooms, ballrooms and private party rooms
- Indoor recreational activities such as batting cages, driving ranges, go-karts, bowling alleys and rock-climbing walls (though fitness centers and health clubs may operate only at 25 percent capacity and with customers using facilities for only up to 90 minutes a day)
Also, contactless holds pickup at the Cambridge Public Library will resume, first at at the Central Square and Valente branches; as of Feb. 9, at the Main Library; and as of Feb. 10 at the O’Neill Branch.
In-person appointments at city buildings will resume the week of Feb. 8, with appointments available on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.
“The City of Cambridge will continue to take a cautious and measured approach to activities and industries permitted in Cambridge and will continue to closely monitor public health data as part of its decision-making process,” officials said in the email.
On Sunday, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said some businesses, including fitness facilities, “motion picture and television streaming productions;
martial arts and dance facilities; and non-athletic instructional classes such as arts, music, language, etc.,” may once again open in Somerville on Monday, the same day such rollbacks will end in Boston.
Information is at cambridgema.gov/covid19.