4/29/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates

On April 29th, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide a COVID-19 update on the Department of Unemployment Assistance, Traditional Unemployment System, Testing, Department of Public Health, and MA 2-1-1.

Here is the summary.

Department of Unemployment Assistance

  • The call center has connected with over 80,000 constituents over the phone and the online help tool has helped to resolve over 200,000 individual issues people had when applying for benefits. 

Traditional Unemployment System

  • Over 650,000 people have applied for unemployment since the COVID-19 crisis began. 

  • As of last week, MA is providing benefits to over 400,000 people. 

Testing

  • MA is averaging about 8,000-10,000 tests per day.

  • MA is getting people who test positive into quarantine and also getting in touch with their close contacts through tracing. 

Department of Public Health

MA 2-1-1

  • This past Friday, the call team has answered over 50,000 calls and has provided resources to many people.