5/15/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates

/

On May 15th, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide a COVID-19 update on Testing, Hospitalizations, PPE, Funding for Municipalities, The Administration, and The Virtual Map of Test Sites.

Here is the summary.

Testing

  •  Yesterday, MA conducted over 14,300 tests which brings the total number of tests to over 424,000.

    • Of the tests conducted yesterday, 12% were confirmed positive. 

  • MA partnered with Walmart to open COVID-19 testing sites starting today. 

    • This will be at the parking areas in Salem, Brockton, Quincy, and Plymouth stores.

    • Anyone who meets the CDC and state guidelines will be able to get tested. Please visit www.doineedacovid19test.com to see if you are eligible for testing and make the appointment. 

    • The sites will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 7am-9am. Each site will be able to test 40-50 people per day. 

    • The sites will use a self-administered nasal swab test in order for individuals to be able to swab in their vehicles while being observed by a trained medical professional to make sure the sample is taken correctly. 

Hospitalizations

  • The percentage of cases that are currently hospitalized is down to 3%. 

  • Yesterday, MA had 242 fewer people hospitalized than the day before. 

    • MA still currently has over 2,800 people who are hospitalized for COVID-19.

PPE

  • As of yesterday, MA has delivered around 10.6 million pieces of personal protective equipment.

Funding for Municipalities

  • The administration gave guidance to local officials about the distribution of the $715 million from the federal COVID-19 relief fund.

    • This aid is $502 million from the Commonwealth and then direct support of $90 million to Plymouth County and $121 million to the City of Boston. 

      • This represents about 25% of the total funding the Commonwealth has received from the federal COVID-19 relief fund. 

The Administration

  • Today, Governor Baker signed legislation that will help finance MA’s decision to move the tax filing deadline to July 15th. 

  • This weekend, the administration’s legal office will be posting a 24 hour extension of the essential service order they issued as it expires on Sunday. 

    • This extension does not change anything, but allows the administration to move to the next step which will be outlined with the public on Monday. 

Virtual Map of Test Sites

  • The Command Center has worked with MEMA to build an interactive COVID-19 test site locator map.

  • The test site locator searches for testing sites by zip code, city, and town and quickly provides information about testing location hours and protocols. 

  • Please find the map at mass.gov/covidtestmap 

    • Please be aware that the information on the test site locator is constantly changing, so please contact the test site for details before actually going.