5/14/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates
/On May 14th, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide a COVID-19 update on Testing, Hospitalizations, PPE, CVS, Community Health Centers, A New Plan to Expand Testing, PPE Procurement, and Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Hotline.
Here is the summary.
Testing
Yesterday, MA conducted over 8,500 tests which brings the total number of tests to over 410,000.
Of the tests conducted yesterday, 1,165 tests (or 14%) were confirmed positive.
Hospitalizations
Yesterday, MA saw 26 fewer hospitalizations for COVID-19. There are still currently over 3,000 residents hospitalized due to COVID-19.
Fortunately, MA hospitals have been able to withstand the surge and have the capacity to care for everyone who is seeking medical attention.
PPE
As of yesterday, MA has delivered around 10.5 million pieces of personal protective equipment.
Expanding Testing in CVS
Earlier today, CVS announced the launch of 10 new COVID-19 drive through testing sites at CVS locations across MA.
The ten new sites will be in Charlton, Worcester, Raynham, Northampton, Bridgewater, Carver, West Springfield, Danvers, Westport, and Wellesley.
Individuals who meet testing criteria will be able to register in advance at cvs.com starting tomorrow.
Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-through window where they will be given a self-swab test kit and instructions. Test results will be available in approximately 2-3 days.
Expanding Testing in Community Health Centers (CHC)
Last week, MA expanded its testing partnership with Quest Diagnostics in 18 CHCs throughout the state.
As of today, Quest Diagnostics has shipped out more than 20,000 tests to CHCs throughout MA.
New Plan to Expand Testing
The federal COVID-19 legislation that was passed by Congress on April 24th includes testing resources for states. In order for states to access these funds, they need to submit plans to the federal government outlining their testing strategy. MA will submit their plan later this month.
What the plan will include:
To boost overall testing capacity to 45,000 tests per day by the end of July (this would mean over 16 million tests a year).
To have 75,000 tests per day by the end of December (this would mean over 27 million tests a year) with a goal to get to less than 5% positive rate.
To help laboratories expand their processing capacity to prepare for potential surge and testing in the fall.
To make sure MA has the testing capacity to test workers who are in regular contact with COVID-19 positive patients.
To allow MA to continue to expand their testing for residents and patients in high risk congregate settings (ex: state hospitals, group homes, and correctional facilities).
To set guidelines to offer testing for individuals who are symptomatic or who are close contacts to confirmed COVID-19 cases or whos employment puts them at high risk.
To have faster turnaround times for tests to make sure health care providers can make decisions on the same day or next day results.
There is no universal testing at this time. Universal testing has its own limitations and is too far off to rely on for MA’s reopening.
PPE Procurement
Over the past few weeks, MA has worked with partners and Chinese officials to obtain 7.5 million pieces of PPE and supplies.
Since April 20th, PPE has come to MA on 6 different chartered flights.
Including 6 million masks, 800,000 swabs, 400,000 coveralls, and 125,000 gowns.
Once the shipments arrive, the administration works through MEMA, State Police, the National Guard, and the Department of Public Health to inspect, warehouse, test, and then distribute the PPE.
It is crucial to implement long term testing and large amounts of PPE procurement plans for reopening.
Today, Steward Health Care has announced that they will be donating 50,000 isolation gowns to MA. The gowns will be distributed to communities like Taunton, Brockton, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Methuen.
Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Hotline
The Safe Link Hotline for resources: 877-785-2020