5/7/2020 Press Conference on COVID-19 Updates

/

On May 7th, Governor Baker gave a press conference to provide a COVID-19 update on Testing, PPE, Hospitalizations, and The MA Community Tracing Collaborative.

Here is the summary.

Testing

  • Yesterday, MA reported 6,300 new tests, bringing the total number of tests conducted to almost 340,000. 

    • For these new tests, the positive test rate was 28%. This data is a bit higher than the downward trend we’ve been seeing for the past several days, the administration will be looking into this data further. 

      • Please remember that these test results are going to largely be a representation of  where we test and who we test. 

PPE

  • As of yesterday, MA has distributed over 9 million pieces of personal protective equipment.

Hospitalizations

  • Currently, there are 3,564 COVID-19 patients hospitalized statewide. This continues to be about 5% of the total cases. 

The MA Community Tracing Collaborative

  • The MA Community Tracing Collaborative was set up on April 12th. 

    • The team is made up of local boards of health, DPH, and Partners in Health. 

  • If you test positive for COVID-19, you will be contacted by a collaborative or local board of health. Please take the call, the call will be from an 833 or 857 number and if you have caller ID, it will say MA COVID TEAM. 

    • Please answer all of their questions as accurately as you can and please ask them any questions you may have as well. 

  • To date, the team has connected with nearly 14,000 confirmed cases and have reached out to more than 7,500 close contacts. 

    • They are anticipating more staff, but there are currently more than 1,600 people making these calls. 

  • The average number of close contacts is 2. This is a good sign and shows that many people are taking social distancing seriously. We need to continue to do this. 

Message from New Bedford Public Health Director Damon Chaplin

  • Contact tracing is about separating sick people from healthy people to keep more people healthy.

    • This is about getting help for you and your family. Please answer the phone call, have a conversation, and get the help and resources you need. 

  • The person who will call you is a representative of the Command Center and DPH. They will make sure you have what you need to safely self-isolate and connect you with services and will ask who you have been in close contact with (who you have been around within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more).