Franklin Matters: “No one thinks you need less than 14 days, let’s put it that way”

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

“No one thinks you need less than 14 days, let’s put it that way”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Key indicators about the COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts have for the first time moved in an encouraging direction for several days straight, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday, but as other states are opening up economic activity, officials here still want to see at least two weeks of steady progress.

Ten percent of the new tests reported Monday came back positive, the lowest daily rate since late March when Massachusetts had roughly half the testing capacity. The number of patients actively hospitalized because of the highly infectious virus has also moved on a downward slope in recent days.

While Baker said the state has now seen “for the first time, a few days in a row, the right kinds of trends,” he hinted that a phased reopening of closed businesses cannot safely take place unless the patterns continue.

“We’re still very much in the fight against the virus, but it’s encouraging, I think, for everybody to see progress, given how much hard work and how much sacrifice has been invested in this,” Baker told reporters after he toured a manufacturing facility in Fall River. “As we come to the other side of this and start to determine next steps for going forward, we need to see these numbers continue to fall.”