5/12/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates

On May 12th, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide a COVID-19 update on Testing, Hospitalizations, Supplemental Budget to Cover COVID-19 Related Costs, and MatTek Life Science Partnership.

Here is the summary.

Testing

• Yesterday, MA conducted 6,339 tests. This brings the total number of tests to just under 400,000.

  • The number of tests conducted yesterday looks lower than usual as it can be assumed many people did not go out on Mother’s day to get tested. 

  • Of the 6,339 tests conducted, 669 were confirmed positive (about 12%). 

Hospitalizations

• 4% of COVID-19 positive cases are hospitalized. 

Supplemental Budget to Cover COVID-19 Related Costs

• Governor Baker filed a supplemental budget for $1 billion to cover COVID-19 related costs and expenses. The supplemental budget will cover costs/expenses such as: 

  • PPE purchases

  • Rate adjustments for human services

  • Field hospitals and shelters

  • Contact Tracing Program

  • Allows MA to qualify for FEMA reimbursement 

• Supplemental budget will ensure that adequate state spending has been authorized to allow the Commonwealth to continue to support our communities until additional federal reimbursements are provided. 

  • MA anticipates that COVID-19 costs that are not supported by FEMA reimbursement will, to the extent possible, be matched by other available federal revenue resources including the CARES Act. 

MatTek Life Science Partnership

• MatTek Life Science specializes in cell culture and building human tissue in labs. MatTek is now manufacturing viral transport media and COVID-19 test collection kits.

  • A few of MatTek’s tissue model types typically reserved for consumer products can now be used as early screening tools for COVID-19 antiviral research. 

• Over 6 weeks ago, MatTek pivoted operations in some of their labs to produce hundreds and thousands of liters of hand sanitizer. 

  • They have been donated to local first responders and medical facilities.