Massachusetts Police and health officials to enforce COVID-19 guidelines with hefty fine and non-compliance hotline

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The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has created a year like no other in recent memory. We’ve heard stories about wildfires in Australia and California, murder hornets, deaths of George Floyd and subsequent riots, protests, and unrest, locust plague in Kenya, economic hit, loss of jobs, closing of businesses, the loss of Kobe Bryant, Sean Connery, Chadwick Boseman, and Alex Trebek, deadly train derailments, plane crashes, earthquakes, and flash floods that return of Ebola to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Beirut chemical explosion, postponement of the Summer Olympics, and while not deadly we had a minor earthquake in Dartmouth. And with how 2020 was unfolding an earthquake surprised, but shocked – pardon the pun – no one.

2020 isn’t over: we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve to celebrate. While a time when the economy gets a boost from all the plane, car, and train travel and families gather around a table – often after not having seen each other in a long while.

Of course, that too will be affected, even ruined in some cases, because well…it’s 2020.

How will the COVID-19 effect our holiday celebrations? For starters, Massachusetts health officials have set guidelines:

• No more than 10 people allowed in a household.
• Everyone must leave the gatherings and go home by 9:30pm.
• Wear a mask when not eating or drinking.
• Stay at least six feet apart from others.
• Keep visits short.
• Do not share food, drink, or any utensils.
• For 14 days after the gatherings, minimize contact with other people and only leave home for essential services like going to work, buying groceries, and appointments with doctors.

While proponents of these guidelines feel these will best protect the community by limiting the spread of the coronoavirus, opponents call them draconian measures that trample constitutional rights.

Expecting residents to resist the guidelines, Massachusetts has put a plan in place to address it: non-compliance to these specifics will draw the attention of the police and health departments who have been given the authority to enforce them. That means you may be hit with a hefty fine of $500.

The state is so serious about enforcing these guidelines that they have created a non-compliance hotline where you can call and report your neighbor for violations.

What will you be doing differently, if anything, this year? Let us know in the comments.

About Michael Silvia

Served 20 years in the United States Air Force. Owner of New Bedford Guide.

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3 comments

  1. Whilw I understand the crisis, what does the First Amendment to the Constitution say about the right to assemble ?

  2. Last I checked there are no laws in place to enforce these requests, police don’t even have a book to write a citation nor have a law to refer to… you can kiss my ass

  3. This is such BS!!! This Country is founded on Faith & family. If we do not stand up for what we believe in and give way to their stupid dictatorial and tyrannical fantasies then we will lose everything that our ancestors fought to keep. Do we really believe that the same people trying to force us to carry out these ridiculous wishes are going to abide by them themselves? I doubt that very much. They’re trying to turn us into communist China or Russia where you call to rat out your neighbors so you can have “good standing” with the authorities…until you’re the one who gets turned in. We have to go back to teaching American History in schools so our children can learn the TRUTH about what our Country really stands for and the freedoms that so many of our loved ones sacrifices their lives defending. God bless the United States of America!

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