COVID-19 Restrictions Ease, Restaurants to Expand Capacity in MA

Businesses in Massachusetts, including restaurants, will be allowed to increase their capacity, Governor Charlie Baker announced in a COVID-19 briefing today.

Effective Monday, February 8, 2021, at 5 a.m. restaurants can increase capacity to 40% due to improvements in the state’s COVID-19 data. The 40% capacity does not include business employees as previous restrictions had. The 90-minute time limit for dining remains in place, as sox the six-person maximum per table for indoor dining.

Vaccines are getting to residents across the state, case rates and hospitalizations are dropping, and people are doing a great job of stopping the spread. We’re asking everybody to keep doing the things that have been working.

Gov. Charlie Baker

Yesterday, the state’s Department of Public Health announced that the seven-day weighted average of positive molecular tests dropped to 3.3%.

Our administration is pleased to see public health data continue to trend in the right direction, allowing us to ease up more restrictions on businesses due to COVID-19, I urge businesses, residents and everyone across the Commonwealth to hang in there. Even as we ease up restrictions, we must continue to be vigilant and careful and do the things that we all know work.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito

In January, Baker announced adjustments to the state’s reopening plan lifting the stay-at-home advisory and business curfew after a spike in cases experts credited to gatherings over the holiday season.

The state will remain in Phase 3, Step 1 of the reopening plan. Indoor gatherings will remain limited to 10 people and outdoor gatherings will have a limit of 25 people.