Who would have thought we’d be spending the middle of August thinking about vaccines and masks?

 

And yet here we are.

 

Here’s today’s need to knows….

 

 

Gov. Charlie Baker believes the recent COVID outbreak in Provincetown shows that vaccines are effective.

 

"I think in some respects, Provincetown was as big a test as you could possibly put a vaccine through," Baker said yesterday, according to Katie Lannan at State House News.

 

"The significant number of people who were there were vaccinated, it was an enormous crowd, a three-day rainy weekend in Provincetown where everybody talked about the fact that it was a lot of close quarters in restaurants and bars and households.

 

“And yet, in a cluster with more than 1,000 people, only seven people were hospitalized, and one person died, and the person who died had a lot of complexities.

 

"I think in some respects, the vaccines have proven their effectiveness, and we should do everything we can to encourage people to get vaccinated."

 

 

We surveyed our restaurants this week about masks and vaccines. We had 44 responses to our email poll from restaurants in Newton, Needham, Wellesley and Watertown. Here’s what they told us:

 

 

“I am a restauranteur not an epidemiologist so I find it frustrating that people are looking to my managers and me for guidance,” one restauranteur told us. “I have followed all rules since the beginning of the pandemic and will continue to do so. I suppose I just want someone to tell me what to do...i.e. mask mandates, vaccination mandates, etc.”

 

“Requiring employees to be vaccinated is problematic given the demographic of many of our employees and the severe shortage of people willing to work in our industry,” said a different operator.

 

“[It] should be up to individual businesses, [the] state messed things up badly first time around,” said another.

 

Finally, there was this comment I suspect everyone agrees with:

 

“Please tell COVID to go away.”

 

 

Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) is calling on the Baker administration to issue statewide mask requirements in light of the spread of the Delta variant.

 

“Leaving public health decisions to private businesses is not the right answer,” AIM, which represents many of the state’s manufacturers, said in a statement.

 

“It is the duty of state and local governments to protect our health. We need leadership on the pandemic to support our businesses and employers.”

 

Other Massachusetts business groups, including the Retailers Association of Massachusetts and Mass. Restaurant Association tell Greg Ryan at the BBJ that they do not support government mandates.

 

“We do not believe the government should require one industry to police these aspects,” said Bob Luz of the restaurant association.

 

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Assisted Living Association is asking Baker to mandate COVID vaccines for their industry, the Globe reports.

 

Last week, Baker ordered most nursing home workers to be fully vaccinated but not the state's 270 certified assisted living residences.

 

 

Gov. Baker is leaving the decision to impose an indoor mask mandate up to individual municipalities. So far, at least six municipalities have taken that step.

 

Amy Sangiolo who is running against Mayor Ruthanne Fuller this fall wants to add Newton to the masks required list, reports John Hilliard at the Globe.

 

“As mayor, I would immediately enact an indoor mask mandate in Newton, just like the one Belmont has put in place. I’m not going to wait for Charlie Baker to weigh in on something so obvious,” Sangiolo said.

 

But Fuller is only "strongly recommending" face coverings when inside public spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

 

“There is a place for mandates and we will continue to consider them for Newton,” Fuller said.

 

Perennial candidate Al Cecchinelli is also running for mayor. The three candidates will face off in a run-off election Sept. 14.

 

 

One last mask need to know: 

 

Some experts tell Martin Finucane at the Globe that we should "use better masks than the scraps of cloth they used earlier in the coronavirus pandemic.”

 

Men’s Health explores the same question.

 

• The Newton Licensing Commission will discuss banning the sale of single-use containers for alcoholic beverages, better known as nips, on Tuesday (Aug. 17) at 7:30 p.m. Zoom login here. Earlier Wicked Local story here.
• Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is accepting applications for its four capital programs: Bits to Bytes, Novel Therapeutics Delivery, Women's Health, and Research Infrastructure. Applications due Nov. 19. Details.
• The Commonwealth Corporation’s Express Program provides employers with fast, simple access to grant-funded training. The program will reimburse 100% of the training per individual for businesses with 100 employees or less. Details. Trainers go here to become a registered vendor.