Gov. Charlie Baker. Photo by Chris Van Buskirk | State House News Service
With the spread of COVID-19 accelerating, Gov. Charlie Baker plans to provide an update to the state’s reopening guidance in a press conference this afternoon.
Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito plan a 1 p.m. press conference where he will be joined by Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders.
The update comes during the teeth of the holiday shopping season, and as the state’s hospital systems are under strain due to the sharp increases in confirmed cases since families and friends held Thanksgiving gatherings.
Many Boston-area mayors have been calling for state government action, with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh warning last week that renewed restrictions were “the next step” if the increase in numbers of new cases didn’t begin to decline.
The trend of eye-popping numbers of daily new coronavirus cases continued through the weekend in Massachusetts with 5,356 new cases confirmed Saturday and another 4,747 added to the total Sunday, putting Massachusetts on track to surpass the quarter-million case mark as soon as Monday.
The state surpassed a grim milestone with Sunday’s data report: 11,004 people in Massachusetts have died since March with confirmed or likely cases of COVID-19, the Department of Public Health reported. About 4.45 percent of the 247,559 coronavirus cases here have led to the death of the person infected.
In addition to the 10,103 new cases and 94 new COVID-19 deaths reported by DPH over the weekend, the agency said 195,555 COVID-19 tests were processed and that the state’s seven-day average positive test rate had dipped from 5.44 percent as of Friday to 5.34 percent as of Sunday.
The head of the Massachusetts Medical Society said Sunday that the dip “is SLIGHTLY reassuring” but that it is “[s]till too early for the Thanksgiving surge but getting close.”
“This week should be telling,” Dr. David Rosman tweeted.
Watch Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening update live at 1 p.m. below or at Mass.gov/governor-updates:
The state is expanding its “Stop the Spread” free testing program that includes three new express testing sites in Framingham, New Bedford and Lynn. Those express sites will be operated by Project Beacon, the vendor running the express testing site in Revere, and will be able to test 1,000 people a day. The Framingham site was expected to open Monday, and the others by the end of the month.
“Stop the Spread” testing sites set up by the state for people with or without symptoms will also be opened in Barnstable, Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire counties, bringing the total number of state testing sites to 25, with a capacity to test 110,000 people a week. Cape officials have lobbied the Baker administration for their own site, describing the area as a “testing desert.” With money from a July COVID-19 budget bill, the county will now be running a drive-thru site in Falmouth.
There’s capacity available in the Boston area to handle more COVID-19 patients, according to Gov. Charlie Baker, who expressed confidence over the weekend about being able to stand up a field hospital if necessary.
Still, Baker said Monday that hospitals will “curtail” inpatient elective procedures that can be safely postponed to free up bed space and staff.
The state opened its field hospital in Worcester on Sunday, another one is going up on Lowell soon, and the state is talking to South Coast officials about setting one up in that region, Baker during an appearance on “On the Record” that aired Sunday morning on WCVB-TV.
