Franklin Matters: State Rep Jeff Roy: Update #4 on COVID-19

Sunday, March 22, 2020

State Rep Jeff Roy: Update #4 on COVID-19

COVID-19 update #4

I continue share your concerns about the spread of the Corona virus (COVID-19) and am providing these updates regularly to keep you informed. New information is coming out regularly and in great volume. To keep the information timely and manageable, I will post only new information in these update emails and ask you to visit https://jeffreyroy.com/covid-19-updates/ for a compilation of all of the updates. That site will be updated frequently to keep you up to speed on the latest developments.

Here are the updates since my last email:

Current cases. In Massachusetts, there are a total of 413 cases of COVID-19, out of the 4,091 individuals that have been tested. For complete details, click here (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-cases-quarantine-and-monitoring). The state's capacity to test has been expanded so we expect that number to rise as more people get tested.

Testing ramping up. Massachusetts has a goal of conducting a minimum of 3,500 coronavirus tests each day and is on track to get to that level through an enormous increase in testing capacity by early next week (March 22-28). Quest Diagnostics in Marlborough is ramping up labs to be able to test 20,000 people per day across the country. CEO Steve Rusckowski said the company hopes to eventually be able to test 2,000 to 3,000 people a day in Massachusetts. Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said that, using South Korea as a model, Massachusetts needs to be testing 3,500 people each day at a minimum. Massachusetts officials confirmed the state's first positive COVID-19 case on Feb. 1.

Unemployment town hall Sunday, March 22 at 3:30 p.m. To help with the increased demand on the unemployment system and the increased volume or your constituent service staff, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and the Department of Unemployment Assistance will be hosting virtual town hall meetings. We will take all who sign up through a step by step process of achieving a successful unemployment claim. We will also be taking questions from claimants across the Commonwealth. The first virtual town hall will be held this Sunday, March 22nd, at 3:30pm. Sign up information for the virtual town hall is available by clicking here (https://www.mass.gov/forms/massachusetts-department-of-unemployment-assistance-dua-virtual-town-halls). To further help claimants through the process of applying for benefits, DUA has made specific web page updates that include the latest guidance for employee qualifications and additional resources like contact forms and a COVID-19 specific unemployment claim handbook that can be viewed by clicking here (https://www.mass.gov/resource/information-on-unemployment-and-coronavirus-covid-19).