Massachusetts residents burning up the COVID-19 snitch line

Coronavirus snitch line comments obtained by the Herald run the gamut from callers declaring Gov. Charlie Baker will spend “eternity in hell” for his COVID crackdown to a strip club losing its liquor license after a dancer and patrons were caught maskless.

Nobody is spared in the often-anonymous complaints. More than 200,000 calls have been logged in the state’s 211 coronavirus compliance system since the onset of the pandemic in March, according to state records.

That includes a liquor license being pulled at Kittens Gentlemen’s Club in Salisbury, the state says, after a dancer performing on the stage and others were not wearing masks. The club could not be reached for a comment Monday night.

Other hotline complaints included a “large gathering” outside a detox center in Millbury where masks seemed optional, a neighbor “spitting,” a packed ferry out of Woods Hole and house parties all around Greater Boston.

Worried residents on Nantucket — still in the state’s high-risk “red” zone — included alerts over “sick people from other states” arriving and Harvard Business School students “playing loud music and drinking and no one was wearing face coverings.”

A wedding planner asked if an October ceremony for 120 people in Taunton could be held if each table of six made separate reservations. “No dancing will take place, but we will cut the cake that the restaurant will serve … for dessert,” someone asked.

A response was not included, but it’s doubtful that wedding will go ahead as planned.

The state’s limit on private large gatherings inside now stands at 25 people; private outdoor gatherings go from 50 to 100 people, depending on if it’s held in a high- or low-risk community.

Crowding in restaurants, lax enforcement at a Hopkinton post office, cheating on quarantining, older residents bumping up against younger ones without masks are all part of the hotline panic over transmission of the virus.

Wearing masks below the nose appears to be another top concern. That trend, dubbed going “nose commando,” goes against the current science, the CDC says.

Yet, someone from Middleboro worried — correctly — that forcing children under the age of 2 to wear a mask could cause suffocation. The CDC agrees.

“Masks should NOT be worn by children under the age of 2 or anyone who has trouble breathing, is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance,” the CDC states.

People can report coronavirus safety concerns by hotlines or anonymous online complaint forms through the attorney general’s office, the state’s 211 system or through the Bureau of Labor Standards. The hotlines and complaint forms can all be used anonymously.

A few of those entries included criticisms of Baker’s handling of the pandemic, with one Acton resident slamming the governor for “disrupting” business — an act of “treason,” the entry states. Another equally upset hotline user from Methuen said Baker will spend “eternity in hell” for the phased reopening of the economy.

Investigators found maskless bartenders serving patrons, too many people seated together and people seated at a bar in Weymouth and Springfield not eating, records provided to the Herald through a public records request state.

Compliance around coronavirus regulations has been “very high” at the 5,000 businesses across 75 municipalities inspected by the COVID-19 Enforcement and Intervention Team since it launched in July, according to Baker’s office. More than 90% had no issues. The same goes for the DLS investigations where 42 of the 1,020 businesses inspected were issued cease and desist orders.

“Considering there are over 250,000 businesses in Massachusetts,” Tory Mazzola, command center spokesman, told the Herald, “the vast majority are trying to do the right thing and keep people safe.”

Alexi Cohan contributed to this report.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3iyHNWK