Transcripts For CSPAN Massachusetts Gov. Baker Holds Coronav

CSPAN Massachusetts Gov. Baker Holds Coronavirus Briefing July 13, 2024

Governor baker good afternoon. Today we are going to talk about our longterm plans for covid19 testing here in massachusetts and new announcements to make testing more accessible for people and talk about significant shipments of personal protective equipment that arrived in massachusetts. First, we will provide our daily update on hospitalizations. As of yesterday, we conducted over 410,000 tests with over 8,500 new tests reported yesterday. 1,865 tests were reported and for all tests that came back yesterday and that is within the range we have been seeing over the past few days. The range we have been seeing over the past few days. As we said before, that positive rate has come down significantly from where we were a month ago where it was hovering in the 20s and 30s. 26 newer hospitalizations for covid19 yesterday but over 3,000 residents in hospitals due to covid19 that need serious medical care. Our hospitals have been able to withstand the this. Massachusetts still remains one of the hardesthit states and many data points have been declining which is and they deserve enormous credit and we are watching these numbers. Another number reported is our distribution of p. P. E. And as of yesterday, we distributed around 10. 5 million pieces of p. P. E. Having never distributed a single piece of p. P. E. 65 days ago. There is a lot of work of getting front line workers and i will talk about the significant effort our administration and many others have put forth to procure several large shipments. I want to talk about our plans to continue and ramp up testing. With over 410,000 tests conducted, massachusetts is a top five testing site per capita and going to expand our capacity where we can. Massachusetts has the lab capacity to process about 30,000 tests per day and labs are continuing to utilize processing for 10,000 to 12,000 per day. New r today, there is 10 covid19 drivethrough testing sites across massachusetts. C. V. S. Has been an early partner and launching test sites as we are ramping up. Our sites is the first rollout of the National Expansion program which is starting in a handful of states. The 10 drivethrough sites will be at cvs in worcester, rainham, north hampton, carver, dan versus, west port and wellesley. Individuals who meet the criteria will register in advance starting tomorrow to schedule an appointment. Parets will be directed where they will be provided a selfswab test kits. And tests and results will be available in approximately two, three days. In addition, we are expanding testing in our Community Health centers. Last week we expanded our Testing Partnership with 18 Community Health centers throughout the state. As of today, they have shipped out 20,000 tests throughout massachusetts. We are grateful to cvs and quest for their continued partnership for expanding are testing. And as we made more Testing Available and accessible, we are planning for the future of covid19 testing in massachusetts. Important groundwork has been laid to Test Infrastructure and we need to build on that foundation as we continue to fight the virus for the longterm. The federal covid19 legislation that was passed by congress on april 24 includes testing resources for states. To access these funds, states must outline their testing strategy. We plan to submit our plan later this month and we can ensure to do even more. But many pieces of this will be need to signed off on and supported by the feds. It calls for boosting overall capacity to 45,000 tests by the end of july. That would be over 16 million tests a year and 75,000 tests per day by the end of december that. Would be over 27 million tests per year with the goal of decreasing it to less than 5 . We plan to help labs expand their Processing Capacity to prepare for a surge in testing in the fall. We plan to make sure we have Testing Capacity to test workers who are found in regular contact th keefed 19 patients, positive patients as we go forward. The state will continue do expand our testing for residents and patients in highrisk settings like group homes and correctional facilities as well. And will set guide lines to alter testing for individuals who are symptomatic or they are confirmed covid19 cases or employment places them at high risk. We support testing for surveillance purposes which is done by the collaborative and understand what communities are seeing infections. The plan calls for faster turnaround times on test so Health Care Providers can provide it based on results. We will focus on communities with low testing availability, hot spots where we are seeing high positive rates in high density areas. In order to meet these goals, we will need support from the federal government but the cares act offers a Program Model for states to apply through and they plan to have the results back within 30 days. Expanding testing is critical to opening workplaces and businesses. I think we all know that. It will provide viability to identify new cases of covid19 so individuals can isolate and seek treatment and limit their exposure to others at home and work. The Public Health expanded criteria and close contact of confirmed cases. While that is significance, we are not expanding universal testing because the testing does have limitations and should be more applied. If expanded, the targeted approach is attainable and recommended by our medical experts. There is no path to achieving what many refer to as universal testing which has limitations and too far off to rely on. It is a valuable tool testing but not the only tool we have to fight back against the virus as we begin to phase in of our reopening of the economy. The mandatory workplace standards that we relaysed have h. R. Hygiene, Face Coverings and disinfectant. Employees hole distribute illness should go home and employers must implement work le and stay home and remotely if they can. It is critical that employers implement these workplace standards to be prepared for an outbreak. The single positive case or symptomatic worker could result in a significant number of employees being quarantined at home. We will have more about the role of employers and the role they must play as we go forward. But its important to remember that we need every tool at our disposal and that includes more testing, Face Coverings and responsible workplace regulations. I want to share an update on the work our administration has done to secure significant amounts of p. P. E. For frontline workers. There are a lot of moving parts with efforts to get p. P. E. Here and there have been challenges in the past with securing and finalizing the shipments we have secured. The process is much more complicated that much of the equipment we are seeking is not made in the United States and not at the volume we need. Our administration has been working to source and secure p. P. E. From manufacturers in china. The collaborative approach between our administration, the crafts to bring respirator on e e new England Patriots plan is the way it takes. Over the past few weeks, our administration has been working with several partners and chinese officials to purchase and ensure the delivery of over 7. 5 million pieces of p. P. E. And supplies. This equipment was flown to massachusetts on six different chartered flights from april 20 through last weekend. Mass makeup make up the vast majority of the equipment. The shipments include 800,000 swabs, 400,000 coveralls and 25,000 gowns. Once the shipments arrive, we work with the state police, the National Guard and the department of Public Health to inspect, warehouse, test and then distribute p. P. E. To the entities who need it. These shipments are a big win for massachusetts and for the folks working on the front lines who need this aquifment. And we are grateful for the wide range of partners who helped make it happen. Starting with the chinese counsel general in new york. Last month, i reached out to ambassador and asked for his assistance. We are grateful for everything he and our partners did to facilitate these shipments. Wehood help on the Global Infrastructure partners and specifically the former World Bank President who has been instrumental in helping formulate our Contact Tracing initiative. The chinese firm also performed crucial work around soliciting procurement on the ground in china. Additionally, a number of other partners played key roles on transportation and logistics. Ocean air specializing in supply Chain Logistics helped secure these crucial flights and delta flights allowed use of their hangar where the equipment was sorted and prepared by the National Guard. Im grateful to the efforts of ur team which are led by assistant secretary for Operational Services and massport and our partners from makensey. This included nightly checkin calls as we moved this equipment through the process. I thank our chief of staff and has done a tremendous job in coordinating an amount of moving parts. These shipments from china are added significantly to our inventory and we continue to work a variety of channel else to get aquifment. Stewart health care is done naturing 50 isolation gowns and they will be distributed to taunton, brockton, dorchester, nd methuen and we we are thankful to bring this needed equipment to the front lines. This initiative was laid out. The initiatives we laid out today are crucial for us to quont to fight the virus and get the groundwork on a phasein basis. Implementing our longterm testing strategy will be critical to keeping people safe even as we start to open things back and work to supply p. P. E. Is crucial because that aquifment is going to become more important as people return to work and need to keep themselves safe. We are approaching this approach. Our top priority to Something Like a new normal. And with the steps we are continuing to take on these and other issues, we are ensurging we are well positioned to reopen. None of the information i shared with you today would be possible with the determination of our residents. From our staff in the governors office, the command center and men and women of our National Guard and everyone heals who has given 100 . Seven days a week, meeting every challenge in our path, we will continue to fight the virus and make massachusetts safe as we work to get you all back to a new normal. I turn the podium over to the lieutenant governor. Last week at the governors counsel, we announced a new flyer that details resources for survivors as well as the online chat options. It reads, have you or someone you know experienced sexual, physical or Emotional Abuse . You are not alone. This aid is as a result of collaboration with various partners and grateful for their continued work with the counsel. We are appreciated with representatives for working closely with us on these efforts. We worked with the d. P. H. , housing and networks and i would like to thank the mass food association, mass the district attorneys for their continued collaboration. Through this partnership, we hope to amplify this message and ask this be to the Grocery Stores and Convenience Stores where it can be displayed to ensure this ability such as ti Cash Register and we engage local Sexual Assault in exupets across our commonwealth. The flyer will be available in the following languages and made available for download. It will be available in spanish,. Rt tu geese, vietnamese, in addition to the safe link flyer, i would like to share updates to the child application r restraining orders and 258e. These application forms have been repack acknowledged as one document to streamline and xpedite the electronic paperwork process. We want to emphasize you must still contact the courts to begin this process and not e mailed directly to the court unless an individual has contacted the Clerks Office and told to do so. This change and these forms application process includes important updates. Organization signatures are not required to accept the application. If individuals are unable to or it is unsafe to complete the required paperwork, advocates may assist with its completion. However, again, we would like to remind folks that it is required to contact the court before submitting this paperwork. Court staff is available to assist individuals with these individuals over the phone. If you are at home with someone who has sexually or physically abused you, please call for help when you have a moment of privacy to do so. If you have experienced Sexual Assault and domestic vialance within your home or concerned about a loved one who may be experiencing vimens, call the afelink hotline or visit the website. The safelinchinge toll free 8777852020. Deaf and hard of hearing individuals can reach it from video relay service. If you cannot safely call or are not comfortable doing so, you can instant message with a trained advocate at the National Domestic violence hotline. Rain. Hotline or www again, if you are in immediate danger please call or text 911. Thank you. I would like to turn it back over to the governor. Governor baker questions. [ [inaudible question] governor baker if we reach the testing goals, we will be the largest and highest tester per capita anywhere in the world by a significant margin. From where we sit, the most important thing we need to do with our testing strategy is to test in the places where people have the biggest concerns. People are symptomatic and people are in close contact and people who work in a regular and continuous basis with people who have covid19, folks who work in care settings and 24hour settings, those are the opulations that i think we all agree are the ones most at risk. [inaudible question] [inaudible question] governor baker i would say that these are all judgment calls, obvious. But massachusetts is easily by any standard one of the hardesthit States Associated with covid19. We are top four, top five in every awful category you can think of. While we have seen declining rates of positive test results and seen declining rates of covid hospitalizations and i. C. U. Bed days over the course of the past few weeks, we continue to be a state that has a significant number of people who test positively every day, although we are testing in places where we would expect to find people who will test positive and our Health Care System continues to carry a fairly significant load on this. When we issued our initial advisory. It was an advisory and the reason we issued it is because people in t tell massachusetts they have to stay at home. This is an size other and we believe we will be a lot safer if everybody does their part and cuts down on nonessential trips and take a walk or visit a park to get outside. But to the extent that people could stay at home, that would be in the best interests of themselves, their families and neighborhoods and commonwealth. When you look at the mobility data that has been generated by google and others, massachusetts, once again, is a top five player in terms of peoples willingness under an advisory to adopt those principles and practices, which we are enormously grateful for. Indiscernible question] governor baker i think people for the most part understand that as we move forward on this phased implementation it will be more important that people take seriously, the guidance and the criteria and the protocols that will be part of that report. I cant say this one enough. People need to wear Face Coverings and masks if they cant distance. And its just as much protecting you from somebody else as it is protecting somebody else from you. Very significant portion of the population that gets infected ith covid19 never develop symptoms. They walk around. They are absolutely carriers and completely contageyouse and no idea that they have the virus. The evidence with respect to masks and Face Coverings, if both people are wearing them, the likelihood of transmission drops dramatically. This wasnt necessarily people were talking much about but as time has gone by and the number of a ta symptomatic research has been dem object straighted and respect to the value and people wearing Face Coverings and masks, that is one of the most important things people can do. And i think we would really like and i know i can speak for everybody to have a successful phased opening. And part of the way we have a successful phased opening is people Pay Attention to and act on on the guidance that some of which is understood and appreciated. And to me thats the big issue. People need to understand how important what they do as individuals and as organizations is going to be the success of the reopening as we go forward. [indiscernible question] governor baker people need to get tested, ok . For the most part in massachusetts under the current rules, there are criteria and guidelines as to who can get tested unless you work in Certain Industries in which there are testings available on thethrough basis. Expanding some of the criteria through which people can be tested will enhance our numbers. I would guess you would agree with that. D the development of the 10drivethroughs that cvs is putting up. We have capacity. Additional eate testing. [indiscernible question] governor baker you want to speak to that . We developed a whole number of manufacturers who are making a variety of different supplies here in massachusetts that are important to employers. Making happened sanitizers in massachusetts and gowns and coveralls here in massachusetts and people are making masks. But we have a lot of people who are making clothe masks that employers can use in their daytoda

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