Selectmen Put Tighter Restrictions on Seekonk Speedway
The Seekonk Board of Selectmen have added some restrictions to the entertainment license for the Seekonk Speedway as a result of Governor Charlie Baker’s new travel orders for out of state visitors. The facility has been closed to the public due to the coronavirus. However, there have been practice runs allowed for race car drivers.
This message was posted on the Speedway’s Facebook page on Thursday: “As most of you are aware, the State of Massachusetts had implemented a travel ban on residents of Rhode Island starting this Friday August 7th. 40 percent of the teams that compete at the Speedway come from Rhode Island. This travel ban was implemented by the state on Tuesday night and the Town of Seekonk added some additional directives last night. These added restrictions make it impossible for (us) to operate fairly.” “The Town of Seekonk is now mandating that the Speedway would be responsible for collecting valid negative covid tests before entering the Speedway while this travel ban is in place if you are a resident of Rhode Island. This is a severe economic hit for teams from Rhode Island since each asymptotic test could cost $100-$150 per test /per week. This is not fair to the competitors from RI that have done the work to compete not to be able to while others can for something that is outside their area of control.”
‘This is a temporary amendment to the license for Covid-19,” Town Administrator Shawn Cadime explained on Wednesday. “I think there’s a lot of grey area,” said selectman David Viera. “I don’t have a problem with modifying the license. We need to have some stipulations that are going to be adhered to. I think we need some numbers as to how many people we are going to allow per car and I think we need to stick to that.”
The town will now have a fire/ambulance detail and a police detail of two officers at the Speedway for events with up to 500 people in attendance. Acting Police Chief David Enos will have the discretion to add officers if necessary. “I think one ambulance is more than sufficient there,” said Fire Chief Michael Healy.
The Speedway management has opened up the stands to allow for social distancing. “You have a 15,000 person capacity with 300 to 400 people in it,” explained Ed St. Germain, who was representing the Speedway. “The people are pretty spread out.”
Anyone who travels to Massachusetts from another state must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours or else they will be required to self-quarantine for a 14 day period. “The state’s leaving it up to them to police themselves,” said selectman David Andrade. “There’s no one regulating it.” Jessica Horsman, the town’s Health Agent, said the Board of Health could work on a weekly basis with the Speedway management regarding lists of drivers who had tested positive for Covid-19.
Cadime said the Speedway’s license would revert back to the way it was pre-Covid if Baker lifted the travel orders.
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