November 11, 2020 by Carol Britton Meyer
The Special Town Meeting scheduled for Saturday, November 21 at noon is "a go," even with the new, stricter COVID-19 measures in place. The rain date is Sunday, November 22; If it rains that day, the meeting will be held indoors.
Any restrictions related to large gatherings won't apply: "As they did in the Spring, the governor’s most recent COVID-19 orders provide an exception for municipal legislative bodies, which means that Special Town Meeting will still take place outdoors at the Hingham High School multi-purpose field as planned," Town Administrator Tom Mayo told the Selectmen during a remote meeting last night. This update was in response to several questions to the Selectmen's office regarding holding Special Town Meeting, given the state’s new COVID-19 restrictions.
As with the Annual Town Meeting in June, the town will take as many COVID-19 precautions as possible at the upcoming Special Town Meeting. "These include holding the meeting outdoors, spacing chairs 10-feet apart, requiring face masks and social distancing, having hand sanitizer stations available throughout the venue, and cleaning microphones after each use," Mayo said.
On a related subject, Mayo provided a Hingham COVID-19 update: after three consecutive weeks in the state’s high-risk "red" zone, Hingham has moved back to the lower-risk "green" category as of last Friday (November 6), with 424 total cases since January 1 and an average daily incidence rate of 7.7 per 100,000 people over the past 14 days.
"The state revised its COVID-19 metrics to account for population size and positivity rate in determining how a community moves between the different color designations," Mayo explained.
Under the current state guidance, Hingham remains in Phase 3, Step 1 of the governor’s reopening plan. "We need three consecutive weeks in a non-"red" category to be considered “lower risk” and to move back to Phase 3, Step 2," which has fewer restrictions, according to Mayo.
This week, the Hingham Health Department will roll out a new COVID-19 dashboard that can be found on the COVID-19 Update Center link on the town website. The dashboard consolidates state and Hingham Public Schools data into one visual that will be updated each Friday.
Baker's latest restrictions include:
- A revised stay-at-home advisory instructing residents to stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. except for work, school, and essential needs.
- A new executive order requiring the early closure of certain businesses and activities each night at 9:30 p.m., including restaurants, which can serve food and liquor until that time, but diners must leave the premises by 10 p.m.
- An updated face covering order requiring all persons over age 5 to wear face coverings in all public places, even when more than 6 feet apart.
For further information, visit the Massachusetts Department of Public of Public Health website and the Town of Hingham COVID-19 Update Center.
Following Mayo's update, Selectman Joseph Fisher offered "kudos to our executive health officer for staying on top of all this and managing all the issues for the town. Thank you, Susan Sarni!"