5/22/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates

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On May 22nd, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide a COVID-19 update on Testing, Hospitalization, The Department of Public Health, and the Lawrence General Hospital.

Here is the summary.

Testing

  • Yesterday, there were over 11,000 new tests processed. This brings the total number of tests to just about a half a million. 

    • Of the tests reported yesterday, around 9% came back positive which continues the two week trend of a positive rate at or below 10%. 

  • MA is currently operating at a testing capacity of around 30,000 tests a day. There are currently 250 testing sites around the Commonwealth. 

  • Please find the Test Site Locator map here.

    • 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. 

Hospitalization

  • There are currently 2,396 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19. This is a decrease of 120 patients from the day before. 

Department of Public Health

  • The Department of Public Health has expanded the criteria on who can get tested to include close contacts of positive cases. They are also continuing to test all who are symptomatic.

  • The Administration is continuing to work towards increasing testing through the end of the year by utilizing federal funding earmarked for testing expansion and increase capacity to 45,000 per day by July and 75,000 per day by December. They will be sending this plan to the Federal government by next week.

Larence General Hospital

  • Governor Baker delivered his press conference update from Lawrence General Hospital. The hospital has opened a drive-thru facility that will conduct up to 1,000 tests per day. Lawrence has committed $1 million to increase testing for the residents of Lawrence.