No Relief For Singers In Loosened MA Coronavirus Rules: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Friday, March 5. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Massachusetts still has a ban on indoor singing, meaning musicians who have been waiting nearly a year to take the stage are still waiting in the wings.
• The co-founder of FitBit paid a record $1.32 million for a Tom Brady rookie card.
• A worker was flown to a Boston hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries after falling 20 feet at a Needham construction site.

Scroll down for those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

The Baker administration on Friday clarified the easing on coronavirus restrictions announced last week, and it's not music to singers' ears: while live music performances are now allowed, indoor singing is still banned.

"I keep hearing from people that 'Oh, this is great,'" Joe Crowley, who owns Breakaway in Danvers, said. "Your industry is back. You are back. Everybody thinks it's great.

"But it isn't."

State Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control Commission Executive Director Ralph Sacramone issued a statement on Friday confirming: "The Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards has clarified that, while musical performances are permitted at licensed establishments for on-premise alcohol consumption, signing is not permissible indoors as part of these performances."

Read the full story

Friday's Other Top Stories

Nurses set to strike: With a strike deadline looming on Monday, nurses at Worcester's St. Vincent Hospital will host a pre-strike rally this weekend. The nurses are asking for boosted staffing levels and a change in how shifts are scheduled. The two sides have not agreed on a way forward since then.

Worker expected to survive: A worker was injured in Needham at the construction site for the town's new public safety building. Fire officials said the worker fell 20 feet into a ditch at the site. The worker fell at the construction site and a medical helicopter had to be called to fly them to the hospital, according to fire officials. WBZ reported that the injuries are serious but not considered life-threatening.

Harvard cleared in lawsuit over slave portraits: A Massachusetts state judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a Connecticut woman who said Harvard University illegally owned photos of her enslaved ancestors and refused to turn them over. The lawsuit dismissed Tuesday centered on a series of 1850 photos thought to be among the earliest images of enslaved people in the United States. The photos depict a South Carolina man identified as Renty and his daughter, Delia. Both were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles.

By The Numbers

$1.32 million: That's how much James Park, the co-founder, president and CEO of FitBit, paid for a rookie card from Tom Brady's 2000 season with the Patriots. It topped the previous record for the amount paid for a football card by nearly $500,000.

Latest On The Coronavirus Pandemic

CVS on Friday increased the number of Massachusetts pharmacies administering coronavirus vaccinations. The number of CVS pharmacies taking appointments for the shots in Massachusetts is now 136, up from 55 on Thursday and just 18 since the company began giving shots in the state.

See the complete list of Massachusetts CVS locations offering the vaccine.

>>>> Earlier on Patch: Positive test rates and coronavirus case counts fell in over 200 of the state's 351 municipalities.

Today's other COVID-19 headlines:

• Massachusetts Now Exempt From Maine's COVID Travel Restrictions
• No COVID Baby Boom: Massachusetts Saw Nearly 10% Decline In December Births, Data Shows