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A tenants’ rights group is calling for Gov. Charlie Baker to issue a moratorium on evictions under the state of emergency he declared earlier this week in response to the state’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Lawyers for Civil Rights pointed to the potential for low-income renters who have to miss work either due to sickness or to their workplaces closing due to the coronavirus.

“The commonwealth’s most vulnerable cannot afford to miss even one day of work without risking severe income and housing insecurity for themselves and their family. In addition, the weekly eviction proceedings that result in overcrowded courtrooms are precisely the type of environment that the commonwealth is trying to deter to decrease the spread of disease,” the group said in a statement. “It is unfair and counterproductive for the governor to ask people to quarantine themselves in their homes while simultaneously allowing them to be stripped of their housing.”

MassLandlords Executive Director Doug Quattrochi criticized part of the idea in an email to Banker & Tradesman.

“If someone tests positive, no one will argue. The same should apply for landlords with mortgages, or really the entire economy,” he said. “What bothers us is general rumor that courts or other essential civil process ought to be closed to all-comers without cause. There is widespread panic for lack of testing. … If testing gets turned around, and a renter tests for it, fine, we’d draft the bill ourselves.”

Currently, state and federal guidelines continue to restrict testing in coronavirus cases to those with common COVID-19 symptoms like fevers or difficulty breathing.