That we need more. We will work every avenue we can to get them. I signed three executive orders to help expand Health Care Capacity and ensure asset access. The first makes it easier for foreign educated doctors to be licensed to practice in the commonwealth. Specifically allows graduates of International Medical schools who have completed at least a twoyear postgraduate training to be licensed in massachusetts. The secondorder allows Nursing Student graduates, and those in the last semester of nursing programs to practice here in massachusetts if they are supervised by a licensed medical professional. These orders contribute to our effort to grow a Robust Community of frontline workers to support our Health Care Institutions as they significantly expand their capacity. We have already cut red tape to allow more Health Care Professionals to come over state lines, come back to work or start practicing straight out of school, and to continue to make sure that we find the resources we need to support our residents. This is particularly important as we bring more field hospitals online, we need the staff to support this Extensive Network of operating facilities. Requiresorder i signed insurers to cover medically required cost with no charge the patient. Stand upmportant as we new facilities which may be considered out of under normal circumstances and ensures that individuals might be covered if they go to those alternative locations. I want to give a quick update on our efforts to build upfield medical stations to accommodate the surge. As we outlined, the command centers worked with Commonwealth Medical facilities to model the growth of covid19 cases so we can understand how we will need to increase our hospital capacity. To reduce the strain, we have been working with a wide range of partners to set upfield medical locations across the commonwealth. To add beds to our system as we approach the surge. Each site will leverage the unique experience of local Health Care Partners. For example, the first medical station in worcester is being staffed by the dedicated team at umass memorial hospital. A special shout out to eric and his team. We have the details for the boston medical field. Our administration has worked in close coordination with the command center, with mayor marty walsh and his team, our colleagues at the Convention Center, and bostons health care community. We are excited to announce that Partners Health care will be leading Clinical Care efforts at the field medical station at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Partners have a huge footprint in the commonwealth and the hospitals and its networks, mass general and the greatest among them are the best in the world. The clinical effort at the Convention Center is called boston hope, leveraging partnership with health care for the homeless to care for what we expect will be a large and diverse population of covid19 patients. Effort, theof this Boston Convention center will provide an additional 1000 beds for covid19 patients. Medical side and another 500 to help shelter providers and serve homeless populations here and in greater boston. Is hereof partners today, in a few minutes she will speak to the specifics of the clinical effort. For now, on behalf of the commonwealth, thank you for bringing your people, knowledge, and innovative spirit to bear in this fight. Partners workforce and institutions have done a lot for the commonwealth response. And the incredible work of the medical professionals at all of our boston hospitals will be crucial to the Health Care Systems response to the pandemic. Hospitals have also contributed to the increase of Testing Capacity and output. Partners, as the Lieutenant Governor and the secretary and i have spoken to before, was instrumental in the ofntification and delivery the machine from ohio which is standing at the new facility in therville, where criticalcare decontamination system will be able to sterilize 80,095 masks a day. That means the n95 mask stockpile will go a lot farther than it would have without the machine. I do believe there are four or five sites like this that are currently set up anywhere in the country and i want to give folks and the folks in somerville, and the folks on our team, a big shout out for making massachusetts one of the few sites in the country that will be able to use a facility like the to dramatically extend life cycle of some of its personal protective equipment, particularly the n95 masks for healthcare workers and Emergency Responders and First Responders. We are grateful to the support of the city of somerville to make this happen. The machine will keep more masks in use, sustaining a supply of this ppe for all of the folks leading the charge in the fight against covid19. Now with this new effort, partners a stepping up to do even more, and we are very grateful. Mayor walsh and his team have been working to bring the boston field station and convention and Exhibition Center online. Without them, this critical effort would not have been possible. This will also come in conjunction with the opening of the newton pavilion, which is a joint initiative between the commonwealth, several shelter providers in the city of boston, Boston Health care care for the homeless, boston medical center, and the city of boston, offering another 250 beds to help shelter and care for the Homeless Community in boston. This morning, new data released by the federal department of feels that more individuals have filed for unemployment in massachusetts. In the last three weeks, nearly 470,000 individuals have filed new unemployment claims. In context,number typically in massachusetts over the course of the past six or seven months we would get roughly 7000 to 10,000 claims a month. , versusover three weeks something more in the vicinity of 10 to 20,000, maybe 30,000 in claims over a threeweek period in normal circumstances. These numbers are staggering and we all know the story is that all of them are more than just numbers. Between every new claim is a story of economic disruption and hardship caused by the unprecedented impact of this virus. We all know the virus has caused people to lose their jobs. Almost all cases, through no fault of their own, creating significant anxieties in households across the commonwealth and the country. Hadnow several people have trouble getting through the website and are frustrated waiting for callbacks. I want you to know that the administration is working hard. We continue to expand our capacity to develop new resources to help people who are filing applications. We are glad the Online System has been able to withstand the volume without crashing. That has not been the case in many states. Thats thanks in large part to migrate the system a few years ago. The sheer volume means we have to do more and we know that. The department of unemployment assistance have been working nonstop. Is playing, dua Unemployment Compensation to over 250,000 massachusetts claimants. Given the historic volume of new claims we know a large number of people are working through the application process, which requires in some cases a personal connection from the Customer Service staff. We understand that is frustrating, and in many cases small mistakes can prevent a claim from getting processed right away. In a situation where people need to access Unemployment Benefits quickly, its important that we do what we can to resolve those issues. Aggressively have scaled up the Customer Service staff from around 50 people in a Single Call Center three weeks ago to over 600 people working remotely today. Over 60,000s made calls back to constituents to help them resolve their issues and get their claims and their application is processed. 6000 callsis making a day, that number will trend as we go forward. The Customer Service staff has been calling claimants seven days a week and will continue to work through the weekend until everybody receives a call back and gets their issues dealt with. Has hosted daily virtual town halls in english and spanish, which have now been attended by over 100,000 constituents. They are focused on helping claimants resolve common issues which may appear on applications which are preventing people from successfully completing the process. A newpartment will launch mobile friendly spanish only application to help those facing language and Technology Barriers in the legacy ui online interface. We know that many people are eagerly awaiting information about the new federal benefits that were included in the cares act passed by Congress Last month. Since the legislation passed, we call every day to try to get guidance from the feds on how they plan to implement those three new unemployment benefit programs. This week we received partial guidance from the federal government on the cares act, and were beginning to distribute benefits to some residents. That First Program is an additional 600 per week for regular Unemployment Compensation. Which is what most people in the receive. Ply for and as of today, all eligible claimants will receive an additional 600 dollars on top of their normal weekly benefits. People applying for new claims and already receiving claims do not need to take any action to receive this benefit. This only impacts a particular group of applicants. Whopplies to the claimants are currently receiving unemployment and those who are applying currently. To benefit is retroactive march 29 and will continue to the end of july. That is the 600 dollar additional benefit which runs for four months, at the end of march in the beginning of april through the end of july. The Second Program is expanded support for people who have not been in the unemployment system. People like selfemployed workers, consultants who receive 1099s from those they work with and folks in the gig economy. For this new program, the dua is working to build a platform to disperse those benefits. It is expected to begin processing claims by the end of this month. To 39 weeksovide up of Unemployment Benefits to these workers, who are not filed in, located in, or known by the existing Unemployment Insurance system, and are therefore people we need to build new files for. People interested in applying should check the website for up dates. We will communicate with the public when the program is ready to accept applications. The Third Program is a 13 week extension of benefits for people who have exhausted their previous Unemployment Benefits. That program is not available yet because the dua is awaiting federal guidance over how to implement that initiative. Eligible claimants should check for updates which will be made available as soon the state receives information from the federal government. I think we know this is frustrating for many people in massachusetts. People have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and are trying hard to access funds that they need to get by. The new federal cares act has those benefits, which have not been able to be made available as quickly as any of us would like. But you have our commitment that we will do all we can to get the resources to help workers who are impacted by this unprecedented situation. We will continue to paying our colic to paying to ping our colleagues every day to get the guidance we need to lawfully implement those new pieces of the law. We will continue to update the public as information becomes available. I would like to welcome the Lieutenant Governor to the podium. Thank, governor, and good afternoon. These last few weeks have been an incredibly trying and difficult time for all of us. Not only here in the commonwealth but for people around the world. These some circumstances, necessary steps in staying home sexualft survivors of assault and Domestic Violence particularly vulnerable, and at an increased risk. Think of that for just a moment. Isolating, or quarantining, working from home, living with an abuser, and the impact that that has on your mental and physical abilities. So today, we want to make clear that as part of the work we are doing, to stop the spread of covid19, and the efforts we are bringing forth across the ofmonwealth, that survivors Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence know that they are not forgotten. And that we are here to provide resources to support them and to keep them safe. Began, we haves been in Constant Contact with our partners in the fight to end Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, particularly jane doe, safe link, and our Community Providers across our commonwealth that make up our safety net. I am grateful for the advocates at local rape crises centers as well as Domestic Violence programs across our commonwealth who have rapidly transitioned to providing many of their services remotely, utilizing technology to continue supporting survivors. I am incredibly thankful for their efforts to make sure survivors have the services they need, and we will continue to work closely throughout this crisis. As we continue to have dphussions moving forward, will update and post guidance and resources online at the covid19 website and the Domestic Violence prevention and services site. This is a critical time, especially for survivors. To any that might be watching, know that you are not alone and that there are Resources Available to help you. Although many of the physical these resources have temporarily closed, we want to ensure everyone that they know that there are resources Still Available to you. Fileincludes accessing to abuse and prevention and harassment prevention orders either through your local police department, connecting with a safe plan advocate, or through our courts. Courts can also be reached during normal Business Hours by calling the court directly or by calling the child court hotline. 183391court. I spoke with the chief today. Judges are available 247 to process restraining orders. Today we are announcing the expansion of safe link. This is a statewide 24 7 tollfree confidential Domestic Violence hotline. Prior to the covid19 outbreak, safelink functioned as a hotline to protect and connect survivors specifically to Domestic Violence services. Now during the public emergency, we are expanding safe links capacity to include connecting victims of Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence to the Rape Crisis Centers as well as local Domestic Violence programs in their communities. Safelinks expanded capacity to triage calls to local rape aises Center Hotlines creates centralized number for any survivor of Domestic Violence or Sexual Assault to call and receive services. As of yesterday, this resource 211 asavailable through an additional avenue for the most vulnerable to access help. Safelink will continue to be operated in its expanded form by a bostonbased Domestic Violence provider. Tollfree number is 8777852020. For those who are hearing impaired, the safelink number is 2601. 1, advocates are available in english and spanish and can provide translation in more than 130 languages. Safelink is confidential. It allows callers to discuss their experiences and needs with a trained advocate who will then talk with them about attentional locals and link them to Domestic Violence or rape crisis programs. This hotline is designed for crisis intervention support for those who need assistance and safety planning measures for both themselves and their families. If you message have experienced Sexual Assault or Domestic Violence within your home, or are concerned about a loved one who may be experiencing violence, please call safelink and support them and connect them to the resource that they need. If you are in immediate danger, of course call 911. I also want to reiterate the message that Sexual Assault nurse examiners are Still Available in 36 hospitals across our commonwealth during this time to provide forensic testing and support to those who need these critical services. Information on the hospitals sanes are at this time people are still experiencing sexual violence, and it may be a time to access direct testing. If you or someone you know is in need of Sexual Assault forensics exams, please go to your nearest Emergency Room Department for care. During this difficult time as we deal with the limits of our Health Care System, lees know that there are trained professionals that can assist you, walk you through the collection process, and connect to you directly with a trained advocate for followup support regardless of if you are ready to report the incident to Law Enforcement or not. April is Sexual Assault awareness month, abnormally as i would behe in communities working with providers to promote these programs in person. In a covid19ing environment, the point of the message is to explain that these services are Still Available, and our partners across the commonwealth are active and have made that transition to provide these services remotely. Andrly these are unusual uncertain times, but we know that survivors and victims will continue to be part of our atategy, our response, and the top of mind. In every part of our commonwealth, we are engaged and we talk daily about how to do this better. Friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers all have a role to play, too. You can make a difference. At this time of physical distancing, it is critical that we maintain social connections. Especially for people who have experienced sexual and Domestic Violence, who are at greater risk when they are isolated from support. If you know someone struggling with issues related to sexual or Domestic Violence or assault, let them know that they are not alone. Get themil, text, and connected to a local program. You can call to ask for advice as well and find creative ways to support them. If you are at home with someone who has abused you, please call for help when you can see the person but are far enough away that you cannot hear you. This is the best way to ensure that reaching out for help does not further endanger you. Are in immediate danger, please call 911. Areou cannot safely call or not comfortable doing so, you an instantmessage with trained advocate at the national Domestic Violence hotline at hotline. Org. Loveisrespect. Org. Ww. Rain. Org. I would like to take a final moment to let survivors know that we see you, we believe in you, and we are here for you. Thank you. I would like to now turn it over to Brian Goldman of the boston planning and development agency. Thank you, brian. Much, thanks very governor baker, Lieutenant Governor polito. Very soon, the boston hope facility will be opened, and i am here to express mayor marty walshs attitude for all the , all the effort, all the collaboration that has brought that about. Mayor walsh and all of us at city hall and throughout City Government are grateful for this whole of government approach, really the whole of Society Approach to establishing boston , and a 500bed hospital vulnerableility for populations. It was federal, state, city, and Boston Convention and exhibition work hard onwho this. It was the medical and Human Services community that have worked day and night over the past week to create boston hope. About private sector people who have retooled their business expeditiously to make sure that food would be ready to go for thousands of people in the coming weeks. Services,anitorial medical equipment, nonmedical equipment. Furniture. This was a massive undertaking, and it is remarkable to see it come to fruition in just five or six days. Way, the mayor wants to thank the men and women who built out this facility. Tois really aweinspiring lay eyes upon a facility that will house and care for 1000 human beings for weeks. And again, it was created in just days. So thank you to all those who brought this about so quickly. Namen hope is the perfect for this special place. Mayor walsh insists that the business withits hope. There is no time for discouragement. There is no time for fear. Hopee working focused on and the expectation that if we work hard, we work collaboratively, we make good decisions, we can bring about of the city of boston, the healing of the commonwealth of massachusetts, and i think everybody involved. Again, on behalf of the mayor, for the effort that has brought about boston hope. Thank you very much. The president of partners is here. You want to talk a little bit about this since you folks are going to have a big role in making this happen . Good afternoon, and my thanks to governor baker, lieutenant thernor polito, and opportunity to join you today. So you have heard a lot about boston hope, and what i would like to do is make some comments about things we have been planning for, and where we are today. We began planning for the covid19 pandemic several months ago. Really working to mobilize resources, organize staffing, and start to plan for the longterm impacts of this virus. There were many unknowns, there still are. There were many projections, there still are. But thanks to governor baker, Lieutenant Governor polito, all of the teams here, and thanks to sec. Setters, we have really advanced an enormous amount of work to ensure that we are able to care for patients, care for patients. Secondly, to support our communities and to really again mobilize resources needed to do this, and i would say we are extremely grateful, grateful to the teams here, grateful to the partnerships, grateful to the city, and grateful to all of our employees, all people around the city and state who really come together at this critical moment. I would like to focus on two things. You heard about them from governor baker and others, but it is really on personal protective equipment, or ppe, and some specific comments about boston hope. So early on, we became concerned about the availability of personal protective equipment, and particularly masks for our workforce. We have all heard a great deal, and i would say many of us have experienced firsthand this issue over the past several weeks. We knew we needed a solution. We needed a solution quickly. And working with governor baker and his administration and mayor the mayor and his staff, we entered into a partnership. You have already heard about private and public partnerships. Partnerships is one of the themes of today and certainly this is an example of one of those partnerships. Research andl Development Organization devoted to science act Technology Science and technology in ohio. Coming up with a solution for dt decontaminating masks. It was an exciting possibility, being able to extend the life of a mask, to have less mask utilization when resources were scarce. That was a very important issue for us to take on. Worked at a secure location using Emergency Powers granted to him as part of the somerville response to the Current Health crisis. So this Innovative Partnership will offer hospitals across our region First Responders and medical professionals a new regional resource in the battle against covid19. I am emphasizing the regional resource because so much of what we do is really defined by the interconnectedness of who we are as a community and as a state. It is important as a tool for us to deal with the predicted surge of patients with this violence. You have already heard that the system will be operational leader this weekend has the capacity to decontaminate up to 80,095 masks per day. I wanted to give you a few numbers to give it a little bit of clinical context. 16,000 patients with covid19 diagnosis at the end of the day yesterday in massachusetts. Approximately 569 of those patients were at one of our partners hospitals. At the end of the day yesterday. As a Health Care System partner, soon to be known as many of you know as mass general, we started to look at what our requirements would actually be. Fore require 13,000 masks hospitals per week. That number, if our projections are correct, could reach up to 45,000. It is a very large number. We are caring for patients with covid19 in our hospitals now, but of course we have to be prepared for the surge, and we have to be prepared in a very thorough fashion. We cannot get this technology up and running fast enough as a resource for the city and a resource for the state. The second Important Partnership in the war against covid19, i would like to highlight, is boston hope. You have heard quite a bit about that already. I would first like to say thanks to the decisive leadership and collaboration with governor baker, Lieutenant Governor polito, secretary setters, and mayor walsh. It was such a pleasure to announce this morning that meet the Critical Care efforts for boston hope. This is a facility for patients being treated for covid19. It is located at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, but i would like to take a moment to highlight two important benefits, important points about boston hope. First in this 1000bed facility, we will be able to care for the unsheltered in a protected setting. You have already heard the 500 projected split, but i want to point out that these are all part of a single effort to contain this virus and provide care for our patients. Second, by transitioning patients with covid19 from hospitals to boston hope, we can make more beds available for patients in our acute hospitals who require the level of care being delivered at those hospitals. Enought emphasize this from a clinical perspective. We must provide the right care to patients during this pandemic, and it is so important that we ensure that patients receive the right care at the right place. So there are so many patients at our acute hospital who need icu and other higher levels of care availability. A significant percent of our patients are hospitalized in an acute care setting. It can be up to 40 , it will require this intense care. How do we change the configuration of our acute Care Hospitals to take care of this need . For patients recovering who need continued care but not at our acute hospitals, this facility is critical in meeting that goal. Patients will come from hospitals across the city and across the region. Some will come to this facility as they transition from our acute care facilities at mass general or brigham and womens hospital, but i cannot emphasize enough the collaboration that is already occurring at a daily and sometimes hourly basis among our hospital leadership across the city and across the state. So we expect and welcome hospitals and Health Care Systems across the city and beyond. Those who need those services, they can then send patients to receive the care that they need from medical professionals who are there. Others of course will come to the facility because they are currently unsheltered and need to be in the space as well. And boston hope will begin accepting patients for care tomorrow. I would comment quickly that general jack hammond, and a very strong team of Health Care Professionals, logistics experts, contractors, and more have really worked tirelessly for the past week or so to make boston hope a reality. If you see what is going on there, if you look at the beds that have been stood up almost overnight, the incredible work that has been done by this team, that has gone on throughout our Health Care System, are other Health Care Systems in the state, it is only then you see the reality of what has been accomplished. I think we should all be proud of this. How many have come together in such a short amount of time to make this happen. The clinicians, the short the support staff, and so many others across the system and the region are raising their hands and asking how they can take care of patients. Stefan has been a challenge. It has been an issue. Seeing the number of people who have come forward, seeing the creativity, the willingness to serve is what is making us be able to move forward. And i know, from others, will endorse this as well, has a very significant undertaking. A response from so many in this time of crisis has been nothing short of inspirational. That support has come from everywhere, and coming from inspected sources, unexpected sources, and it does and i think will continue to amaze me and the rest of us. So i would just say in closing, as a physician, i would say that we need to rapidly do many things in parallel at a time of uncertainty, to really make and take the best care of patients and also to protect as many people as we can now and also going forward. So my deepest thanks to the entire Baker Administration partnership during these really unprecedented times, and my thanks to all of those who have stepped forward, from our Health Care System, from Health Care Systems across the state, and many others from so many different sectors, to bring this project forward. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you governor, Lieutenant Governor. Our goods from the city out good friends from the city and Partners Health care. Only six days ago when we actually solidified planning, it has actually stood up. It really is pretty remarkable. And the licenses approved also. Always good news. Just a few updates from the command center. As you know, our march 31, we created a safe onsite mobile ford19 Testing Program homes and rest homes. The Program Allows for safe onsite Sample Collection by Trained Personnel from the Massachusetts National guard. Facilities receive the test results in two to three days, which allows staff to take steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. To date the team has conducted onsite testing of 2031 residents and 122 nursing homes, rest homes, and assisted living residences. There are a few changes to the program that will be rolled out today and tomorrow. We are expanding the team to 250 members of the National Guard in order to increase Testing Capacity. And to offer onsite testing at all assisted living residences who want to be tested. There are proximally 16,500 seniors living in assisted living residences across the commonwealth. In addition, nursing facilities that have Available Health care personnel on site can now request to receive the test kits to perform Sample Collections themselves, rather than have the National Guard specialist perform the testing. These facilities will follow the same practice to call our dedicate how designated and dedicated hotline. Yesterday, as you know, we verynced that it was important for race and ethnic data to be reported. The command center worked to increase testing capacities as quickly as possible. Covid19 testing is currently conducted by dozens and dozens of private labs, hospitals, and other partners, and we are working with these organizations to reprove to improve reporting by race and ethnicity to better understand where and on whom the awareness and depth falls to respond more effectively. Yesterday we issued a Public Health order acquiring Public Health providers to take every reasonable effort to collect a complete demographic information, including date, including date of birth, and that information must be included so that we have full Information Available to the citizens of the commonwealth. Time wey for this First Release the data, and it is not where we want it to be but we will work with our partners to report the data to make it better. We will continue to report the data on a daily basis. Finally, i would like to announce a new job application for covid19 temporary care sites website. As we prepare for the surge in massachusetts residents will need medical attention and other support for covid19, we have been standing up temporary care sites in longterm care facilities across the commonwealth. You heard about one today. All of the sites set up in massachusetts from the Dcu Center Field Hospital to the dedicated Skilled Nursing Facility Needs staff to care for covid19 patients. In addition, many of our aresting facilities facing urgent need for staff and support. We are kicking off an allout statewide strategy to connect Health Care Professionals to these sites i recruiting laidoff workers, volunteers who respond, and National Guard staffing. This new website, mass. Gov jointcovidteam, is a special place to connect with temporary care sites that need employees. On this page you can find Job Opportunities with each of our Health Care Partners joining forces together to care for covid19 patients. These care sites are hiring for a variety of roles across health care and Human Services, from respiratory therapists to housekeepers and nursing aides. Nurse aides. We will be receiving out reaching out to jobseekers through Text Messages and recently furloughed and laidoff health care workers, due to the department of an employment assistance, to ensure we are reaching a wide group of people. We have jobs available. As the surge rises throughout the state and other temporary care sites dedicated to covid19 stand up, we will continue to update this website with new Job Opportunities to register for. So please continue to return to this link. Even if you did not find the right opportunity the first time. We are building a strong covid team to help residents battle the pandemic. Help us fight back on the front lines i going to mass. Govjoincovidteam. If you want to make an impact in the fight, opportunities for jobs at the bce cec, which you just heard about as well as working with elders and other opportunities and our great commonwealth, join covid teams. Governor . Can you talk about where the state is at right now on the slope . Where we are at on the slope right now for massachusetts . And dr. Fauci singh u. S. Fatalities could be lower due to measures like social distancing. Do you see that as a possibility . Gov. Baker dr. Fauci is honestly the a lot more qualified to comment on that than i am. What i would say is we track percentage of people who test positive out of the number of people we test every day, and we are in Constant Contact with our colleagues in the Hospital Community especially around what they are seeing with respect to eds, front doors, and icus. Based on that data, it looks pretty clear to us like the surge will land about where we thought it would land, which is somewhere between the 10th and the 20th. We have been asked many times about how long it is going to last, how high the peak will be, that sort of things. Those are really hard questions to answer because we are dealing with something that most people have not dealt with before. And we built most of our models off the experience that other countries and other regions have had, and other parts of the world. But again, they are just a model. And as the doctor put beautifully, a model, is a model, is a model. And what we need to do is to make sure that we plan as best incan for the surge here massachusetts and that we do all we can to make sure our medical professionals and our Health Care Organizations have the resources they need to serve people during this period. A crystal balle with respect to how long it will last or how long it will go. What i do have is a whole bunch of models and estimates and Historical Data to the extent it is available, and we have taken that, in working with our colleagues in the health care community, developed what we believe is an appropriate increase in capacity to serve the people here in the commonwealth during the surge. Are you concerned that with ,he flattening of the curve lower death toll rates, people are going to start wanting to go outside again and going to work. Are you concerned we are going to go too fast to go back to normal . Gov. Baker i have said several times it is important for us to not make big conclusions out of small amounts of data. As tempting as that may be to do, especially as the data looks better, because of the anxiety from the virus. I do think what i would say is that most of the modeling that has been done does not imply the same thing happens everywhere in the United States at the same time. Because there are trigger events. Part of the trigger in new york, according to a lot of the stuff that has been published recently, the big trigger was the availability of a ton of International Travel that comes in and out of new york city on a regular basis, and that had a lot to do with what started covid19 in new york city. I think most of us believe that here in massachusetts, at least in eastern massachusetts, the thing that started the arrival of covid19 was that big biogenic conference. In western mass, we are pretty sure someone from outside western mass, we just do not know where, started the original set of cases in western mass. If you look at the data nationally, it is a big country and there are a lot of Different Things going on in a lot of different places. And one of the reasons why the federal government has talked about moving assets, especially ventilators, around from one state to another is because most of the modeling they are looking at implies that different parts of the country are going to get hit at different times. There is not going to be one National Surge for the United States of america. There will be a whole series of surges that will take place. They will be based on monday virus first showed up in certain places and what people did deal with the consequences associated with planning for it. I said before that i really appreciate, i am going to look right at the camera when i say this, the seriousness that the people of massachusetts have brought to Stinson Singh two distancing and only going out for essential reasons. There are obviously instances where people did not obey those, but the vast majority of cases have lived up to that. I do think that will have an impact on the peak. But in terms of how long the peak lasts or how long this whole thing lasts, i guess what i would say is we are going to listen to the experts, some of whom are standing up here right now. We are going to talk to our colleagues in the health care community. We are going to think about what life could be like once we get past this. Be incredibly careful about not permitting this insidious, awful, and horribly dangerous and contagious virus from coming back anytime soon. And i think that has got to be the way we all look at this. And i get the fact that the economic consequence i talked to you about the unemployment numbers. I get the fact that the consequences of all this are severe. But the reason we are doing this is to keep people alive. Careo keep our Health System from getting so overwhelmed that it is not able to do the things it can do for people who they can save. I mean, one of the great tragedies of this virus in other parts of the world has been in places where because the Health Care System got too overwhelmed by it, they were not able to do the things they normally do every day to save peoples lives. Yet all kinds of people who wanted a passing away, not because they had covid, but because the system was not prepared or able, given what it was dealing with on the covid side, to deal with what was going on elsewhere in the Health Care System. So, i think Everybody Needs to be really careful about presuming that we are all going to wake up one day and snap our fingers and things will go back to the way they were, because we all need to understand that while there is a race going on to create treatments, and many of the folks involved in that are right here in massachusetts, and there is a race going on to find a vaccine and again, many of the folks involved in that are right here in massachusetts. Those answers at the earliest are probably six, seven, eight months away, and the vaccine is probably more than that. And i think we need to be very careful about drawing too many positive conclusions from much of any of this at this point in time. Are Police Departments finding people is that something you would encourage other communities to get out and make sure people are not doing this . Gov. Baker we have said many times there are certain things we can do in the state at the state level, and there are certain things i hope we can provide a framework that locals can pursue what they think they need underneath that. And there are some information we take information we get from locals and make decisions to change statewide guidance. The decision we made to go to 40 occupancy requirements on Grocery Stores came from a lot of the on the ground feedback we were getting from local boards of health, and from mayors and city managers and others, about what they were seeing in Grocery Stores. The decision we made to ban parking at all of our beaches was a decision but i hope sent a signal to a lot of other communities that had their own beaches that this would not be an unacceptable notion if they chose to do that. We have supported many of the initiatives that local communities have pursued to make real in their own terms based on what they were seeing on the ground. Out oners we have essential businesses and on staying at home and all the rest. Thatnk for the most part, has been a reasonably effective strategy. And i do not think anybody on our team has ever wants said that a community that chose to do something on their own that was either a little more or a little different than what we did we had a problem with. We are all trying to do the same thing here, which is to create distance, reduce the spread, and limit peoples contact with one another. Can you talk about lead letter from healthcare workers that urged you to close [indiscernible] gov. Baker our gathering at this point is 10. And there are many communities that have pursued different strategies around forcing gatherings generally. We have also said no athletic events, no close contact, none of that should be going on in public spaces. Worry that as we think about these issues, we can think about we forget about the fact that going outside to take a walk, to get back to the comments the Lieutenant Governor made about Mental Health status and some of the issues associated with never leaving a lack of theres research that says that people in stressful times and situations need to take a walk. That it is a really important part of how they maintain some degree of equilibrium. And the reason we banned the parking at the beaches was not because we do not want people who live in those areas to be able to take a walk on the beach. The reason we banned parking was because people were going way beyond the message that we have put out with respect to social distancing. And hanging out in big groups more than 10, even in some cases less than 10 but very close together, they were setting up barbecues outside. Six, seven across the front of a car. This is the exact wrong thing to be doing at this point in time. But i think we cannot be everywhere. And part of the reason we create this framework is so our colleagues in local government have what they believe is both the moral authority as well as the legitimate authority to do what they believe they need to do to execute on a strategy that everybody understands. And i think for the most part that has been a pretty effective way to go about doing this. Can you explain why the state will not be taking gov. Baker we will get back to you. Say again . [inaudible] we are obviously talking to commissioner riley and jim at education, as well as many of the folks at the local level, superintendents and others, about the rest of the school year. I have said many times, i think our position on a lot of these issues is we will make a decision on them when we need to. At this point in time i think we would be concerned about writing off the rest of the school year, especially given how incredibly orven the online process, the remote education process has been across the commonwealth. And if we do end up in a situation like that, we are going to have to come up with some kind of a strategy to try to help all the kids who did not get what they are supposed to get over the last four or five months of that year, get some of that back. This is, you know the Public Health issue israel. There is real. Theres no question about that, which is why we made the decision with school in the first place. But we talk about some of the inequities that come about as a result of this dislocation. There is a big inequity going on right now associated with education. And we need to make sure we recognize that, appreciate it, and deal with it. A study is putting the actual number of cases at well over 100,000 in massachusetts. Are you aware of that study . Of. Baker i am not aware that study. How long has it been out . Just a few days now. Gov. Baker we will certainly take a look at it. We are in pretty close contact with a bunch of folks at m. I. T. , although it is a very big place. Have you talked to any yet . I do believe you can use that to do some pretty Interesting Research. We talked to some people at m. I. T. Who were doing some Interesting Research on that around surveillance with respect to the opioid issue. So that is a legit methodology. I will be anxious to take a look at the study. Can you talk a little bit about that group of people who will not be able to get your benefits, your 600 benefit, until the end of the month when the state starts taking applications . Why is it taking so much longer for them . Gov. Baker the main reason between the difference between the traditionally unemployed folks who are in the Unemployment Insurance system and the folks who are not, the folks who get 1099s or selfemployed, is they do not exist anywhere other than the tax system if they actually paid taxes and lived in massachusetts last year. So the first thing you have to do is actually create them as a person in a system that can then process an application for them based on the fact that you will have to build out all the data associated with who they were, where they worked, what they did, how much they got paid, and then figure out how to pay them 50 of whatever that number was, without having the beauty of the Unemployment Insurance system, for all of its warts, is that every week companies are filing data on behalf of their employees and themselves, and making contributions into the system. So, when someone applies for unemployment, if they put the right name of the company in there and they get the rest of the fields filled out correctly, it bounces off the file that says, yep, this is that person, this is what they got paid, this is 50 of what they made up to a certain amount, plus 600. 250,000 why 250,000. People a week after we got guidance from the government will get a direct deposit that is exactly right, that is all the right information and it. We will have to build a completely new platform for hundreds of thousands of people. And we believe in the program, ok . We advocated for it, we supported it. And i would love to be able to flick the switch and plug all that data from sources all over the place into some file and bring it to life. But it is going to take a few weeks to do that. If we can figure out a way to get the resources out earlier and to come back and reconcile the thing on the back and, we will do that back end, we will do that. But these folks are not part of a system that everybody else pays into. They are brandnew. And we are going to have to build some platform that can actually take all that information in, validate and verify who they are, determine what it is they actually made, become to but we know what that number is, then give them 50 of that number plus the 600. And we will do it, it will just take a few weeks. An uptick inring domestic virus violence cases over the last few weeks . We know the presence of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence continues, unfortunately. What we are concerned about is the lack of reporting. So we have seen that the hotline number of calls in is down, for instance. So, the purpose of the message today is to alert through providers, through jane doe, through the department of Public Health, that these services are Still Available, even though not inperson, they are available remotely. Emergency rooms are no are open, nurses are available for esensic purpose, and ther information for individuals who are stuck at home to be able to develop a safe plan and to have strategies and have an outlet should they feel unsafe, or they feel vulnerable, or they feel sick because of the emotional stress that is upon them if they are in the presence of an abuser more often then they would be under more normal circumstances. So we appreciate your willingness to share these numbers to get this information out for us. [inaudible] we are in touch with a certified nursing assistant recovering from covid19. She spent one week in the hospital. [indiscernible] we actually have i do not know the circumstances, obviously. One, i hope the individual is obvious he recovering. Two, for people who do not have enough sick time and leave time, we actually created about two weeks ago a process for state employees to actually borrow against future leave time. They should not be being if she did not have any leave Time Available to her at this time for any reason, she would be able to borrow against future leave time so you would get pay. That is not a policy of us to not pay people who are out sick, particularly during covid19. So i will look into it. But that is not our policy. The n95 masks, i was wondering if you could speak to which hospitals will be sending their masks, if it will be mainly partner hospitals, hospitals on the cape, in west massachusetts. Muchen there were several machines available, i think it was an Early Morning conversation, we were determining which one of us will leap on licensing this machine and partners stepped up. It is available to any hospital and First Responder system in the commonwealth, including the commonwealth of massachusetts. So, the commonwealth of massachusetts will have a Licensing Agreement with battelle. It is like a laundromat. I hate to reduce it to what it really is, but you put the dirty mask and a special bag in a special bag, it will go, get cleaned, and come back. Then i pay for the n95 i had cleaned, just like any other hospital that wants to participate in this outside the partner system would have a Licensing Agreement with our tell with but tell. With them. You pay on a per piece basis for every n95 available. Not just for health care, for anyone who is using n95s. So it is really and i think as the doctor said, i am assuming they are open to outside of massachusetts and have the capacity for 80,000 masks a day. When the opportunity became available to us, as we have been sourcing, searching, looking for n95s, when this became available as a way to preserve equipment, and you heard the numbers. I mean, in massachusetts we anticipate about 4. 4 million n95 masks a month during the height of the covid19 crisis, that we need not just to be able to bring in equipment, but also to safely reuse it again. Are you any closer to town by town . I have seen connecticuts. Are we going to be seeing that here . Take, my first goal is to that large number of missing and unknown and to be able to obviously reduce it as much as possible, and to be able to put out by city data. But the first goal i have, it is just not acceptable. That is why not only was it important yesterday to put out you always have this debate in Public Health that you want data to inform your decisions like precision Public Health. My friends and Public Health always want to have the perfect Data Available. When i looked at that data and realized how much was missing, i felt it was important to put it out for several reasons. One is its really important for us to have race and ethnicity Data Available. Second is in some ways to shame individuals, if you would, to complete all the fields. It is not acceptable to me that the 50 56 comes in unknown. And three, sign a Public Health order, basically the moral obligation to provide that data. So my first goal is to really at as much Data Available on statewide basis, and then be able to put it out by municipality. Thank you