Like much of the country and many parts of the world, New England is reopening in phases ahead of the busy summer travel season, with hotels, beaches, parks, restaurants and other sites and attractions across the region beginning to welcome guests back.
Following Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's recent directive permitting hotels and restaurants to return to business, The Nantucket Hotel reopened its doors on Monday while the equally renowned Winnetu Oceanside Resort in Martha's Vineyard will reopen this coming Friday, June 12.
Both properties, along with others across the state, have implemented advanced cleaning and sanitization protocols, non-invasive temperature screenings for employees and guests and social distancing guidelines, among other safety measures designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"We're very fortunate to be a drive-to destination. Being on Cape Cod, there are nearly 100 million Americans within six hours of here. So, we suspect we'll get a little bit of those coming our way to escape," Mark Novota, managing partner of Cape Cod's Wequassett Resort and Golf Club told Boston 25 News.
Many of the nation's most-visited national parks are also slowly reopening, including Acadia National Park in Maine. The park recently reopened to vehicle traffic and began offering take-out service for restaurant guests and access to some gift shops.
In Connecticut, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos both recently reopened with some restrictions, including precautionary measures such as temperature checks, face-covering requirements and reduced capacity restrictions.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island entered the second phase of its reopening strategy earlier this month, opening up state parks and beaches with capacity limitations and social distancing restrictions and freeing up restaurants to offer indoor dining with reservations at limited capacity.
New Hampshire is eyeing June 15 for the return of indoor dining at some restaurants while neighboring Vermont is moving to reopen out-of-state travel, requesting that any visitors crossing state lines enroll in the "Sara Alert" survey to check for common COVID-19 symptoms.
While there's no exact timetable on when New England will be completely reopened to travelers, the popular region is more accessible than it's been in months.
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