Boston’s popular Museum of Science reopened Sunday to the wider public with new restrictions to prevent spread of the coronavirus.
The museum, which reopened to members only last week, is requiring all visitors to reserve tickets in advance and wear face masks.
General patrons visiting the exhibit halls won’t be subjected to a temperature check, though staff and all those visiting museum offices for business appointments will be checked.
Exhibits have also been modified to improve social distancing and interactive ones will be cleaned regularly, officials said.
And state health officials Sunday reported 19 new deaths and more than 270 additional positive cases of COVID-19. That brings Massachusetts’ death toll to 8,310 deaths and its total cases to more than 108,000 since the pandemic started.
For the first time in more than a century, hikers in the White Mountains this summer won’t be able to take advantage of a system of popular backcountry lodges.
The Appalachian Mountain Club’s eight huts, which are spaced about a day’s hike along roughly 50 miles of trail, have remained closed to overnight visitors this season because of pandemic concerns, the Boston Globe reports.
The huts aren’t reachable by road and can each house up to 90 people in communal living quarters that include prepared meals, bunk beds and shared, cold-water bathrooms.
The system dates to 1888 and generates about 40% of the Boston-based group’s operating income.
State health officials on Sunday reported 23 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing New Hampshire’s total to nearly 6,500 cases since the pandemic started. More than 400 have died in the state from the virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic is giving new life to the grandparent scam, said Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan’s office.
There have been 93 reports of the grandparent scam since the beginning of the year, and 34 since June 1, the office said.
Scammers, posing as the grandchildren of unsuspecting grandparents, call and pretend to be in the hospital, in jail, or stranded overseas and in urgent need of wire transfers, gift cards, or cash.
The office recommends people who receive such a call hang up and contact a friend or other family member to verify before sending any money.
Meanwhile, state health officials reported four additional cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing Vermont’s tally to 1,400 since the pandemic started. Most have since recovered.
The state’s death toll remains 56, and one person is hospitalized with the virus, officials said.
Correction
In an earlier version of this The Assoc iated Press erroneously reported that Boston’s Museum of Science is requiring all visitors to submit to temperature checks. The story should have made clear that the checks are required for staff and those visiting museum offices for business appointments, not general patrons visiting the exhibit halls.