Lincoln will adopt Gov. Charlie Baker’s May 1 order to wear face masks in public, superseding a rule passed by the town’s Board of Health on April 29. Meanwhile, officials are keeping a close eye on trail traffic in town and are mulling steps to take if they get too crowded with walkers as the weather warms.
Starting on May 6, everyone in Massachusetts is required to wear a cloth face mask when in public spaces both indoors and outdoors. The state order applies to everyone over the age of 2, whereas Lincoln’s earlier order specified age 5, and the governor’s version is more specific as to fines for violating the rule (up to $300). In any case, businesses may bar entry to anyone not wearing a mask. The order is in effect until the governor rescinds it or until the state of emergency is lifted. The stay-at-home order is currently set to expire on May 18.
As of May 4, Lincoln has had a total of 29 cases of Covid-9. All five deaths have involved residents of The Commons in Lincoln who had “serious health co-morbidities,” Public Health Nurse Tricia McGean said.
The Commons is working with Mt. Auburn and Emerson Hospitals to test all staff and residents starting with the assisted-living and memory care cohorts and doing the independent-living residents after that. The process is ongoing as they experience “peaks and valleys” in inventories of supplies, she said.
McGean also cautioned that anyone who’s gotten tested for Covid-19 is not exempt from continuing precautions. “It’s nice to get a negative test, but we still have to practice all the measures that have been drilled into us,” she said. “It’s how you are today, not how you are the next day or the next.”
The mask requirement extends to people walking on trails when they pass within six feet of another person. Many residents from Lincoln and elsewhere have flocked to the trail system for recreation since the pandemic began.
If walkers don’t cooperate enough in terms of social distancing, Lincoln may consider closing trails to non-residents (a step recently take by Sudbury), closing the parking lots, and/or limiting on-street parking near trailheads. Drumlin Farm trails have been closed since late March.