4/23/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates
/On April 23rd, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide COVID-19 updates on Testing, PPE, Hospital Capacity, and a Message from Three CEOs from Hospitals across MA.
Here is the summary.
Message from Three CEOs from Hospitals across MA
Hospitals are seeing about half the activity of emergencies they regularly would see as people now fear going to hospitals.
Please do not let the fear of the pandemic stop you from seeking the medical care that you need. Please do not wait for it to be too late.
Please remember that the hospital works to keep everyone in it safe and are decontaminating surfaces, practicing social distancing, using masks and other personal protective equipment.
Please do not delay care that might be vitally important.
If you need to ask your physician a question, please call them and they will be able to connect with you through telehealth.
Please remember that Buoy Health is available and free for all MA residents.
Testing
Yesterday, MA conducted over 5,000 new tests. This brings the total of tests to over 180,000 tests so far.
MA reported 1,745 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of nearly 43,000 cases tested positive statewide.
PPE
As of yesterday, MA has delivered over 5.5 million pieces of PPE.
Yesterday, MA received and validated over 200,000 new testing swabs.
This supply will be sent out to support the mobile-testing program in nursing homes, rest homes, and assisted living facilities as well as to several healthcare providers in underserved areas.
Hospital Capacity
As of yesterday, there were 3,977 patients hospitalized statewide for COVID-19.
About 9% of the total number of COVID-19 cases are currently hospitalized.
There are about 18,000 available hospital beds statewide, ranging from ICU to field hospital beds, over half are empty and available.
Despite the pandemic, please remember that you should still go to the hospital in case of an emergency and still call your doctor about other medical needs/concerns.