Gov. Charlie Baker to Provide COVID-19 Update – NBC Boston

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is scheduled to give a coronavirus update on Wednesday.

He is scheduled to speak at 12 p.m. from the State House.

The governor last spoke on Sept. 3, announcing a new campaign to address the five Massachusetts communities that have shown the most persistently high COVID-19 case and transmission rates — Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, Lynn and Revere. Those communities were a major focus of the state’s efforts over the long Labor Day holiday weekend.

The campaign, an extension of the recently-created COVID Enforcement and Intervention Team that is to ramp up enforcement efforts and coordinate intervention efforts in high-risk communities, features billboard ads, digital and social media messaging, multi-lingual field teams, phone and text outreach, and communication with local organizations.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said the campaign includes a new state website, www.mass.gov/stopcovid19, that provides connections to resources and will post informational materials that can be printed out and displayed at businesses, housing complexes and in other places.

Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker said that testing has increased, especially repeat tests for individuals.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 168 newly confirmed coronavirus cases and eight additional fatalities. There have now been more than 121,000 confirmed cases in the state and 8,900 deaths.

The number of people in the hospital with the disease Tuesday was up to 368, with 47 of those patients in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Massachusetts has declined over the past two weeks, going from almost 373 on Aug. 24 to nearly 336 on Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering

The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Massachusetts dropped over the past two weeks, going from 2.06% on Aug. 24 to 1.59% on Monday, Johns Hopkins said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.