Update from Beacon Hill from Mass Access – July 1, 2020
July 1, 2020David Gauthier
WinCam
As of Tuesday night, DPH reported a total of 108,882 cases of COVID-19.
The state has now confirmed a total of 8,054 deaths from the virus.
According to DPH, due to ongoing data cleaning which identifies and removes duplicate reports, the number of both confirmed and probable deaths has decreased as of today’s report.
Yesterday was the first day since March that the state did not report a new COVID related death.
Governor Baker on Tuesday updated the state’s travel guidance ahead of the Fourth of July and travelers visiting Massachusetts and residents returning home from seven Northeast states that have shown progress in controlling the spread of the coronavirus will no longer be asked to quarantine for two weeks.
Starting July 1 anyone coming to Massachusetts from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey will no longer be asked to self-quarantine.
The governor promised an update on when Massachusetts would move to Phase 3 of his reopening plan later this week, but suggested that his decision would not be based on what’s happening in other states.
The next phase includes the opening of theaters and gyms and expected guidance on larger gatherings like weddings, and could begin as soon as July 6.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito also announced a new $20 million rental assistance program that will use a mix of CARES Act and other federal funds to provide relief of up to $4,000 per household to low-income families struggling to pay their rents or mortgages due to COVID-19.
Governor Baker has been getting pressure this week to extend the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures put in place in April to protect those who could not cover their housing costs during the pandemic as businesses closed and income dried up.
The moratorium expires on Aug. 18, but the governor has the option to extend it for 90 days at a time.
State Treasury officials confirmed that they are drawing down $500 million from a $1.75 billion line of credit established with a group of commercial banks to help manage cash flow.
The move will help the state be prepared to manage the deferral of tax revenue associated with moving the tax filing deadline to July 15 and to “be ready for July.”
The Treasury to date has not needed to use its short-term borrowing options to make local aid payments and other required payments.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation announced state park usage is surging, based on data from a June 23 COVID-19 Community Mobility Report prepared by Google.
That document shows that mobility related to places like national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas and public gardens in Massachusetts is up 99 percent over the baseline, and even higher for specific counties.
One day after local and regional health experts called for Massachusetts to make COVID-19 tests available free of charge to all residents, Governor Baker pushed back on the idea as a poor strategy to contain the virus’s spread.
Several public health officials told a Senate panel on Monday that the best step state leaders could take to prevent infections from rebounding would be to make universal testing available, particularly because the outbreak has had a disparate impact on low-income and nonwhite communities that may struggle to access tests.
Baker’s public health commissioner and acting health and human services secretary declined to endorse the idea at Monday’s hearing, and on Tuesday, the governor threw support behind a combination of other steps such as contact tracing, isolation, widespread use of face coverings and frequent hand-washing.
The administration is pursuing an expansion in testing capacity over the next six months as it continues to ease restrictions on public behavior and is looking to make more testing available in communities with higher infection rates.
Officials hope to be able to test up to 45,000 individuals per day by the end of July and 75,000 per day by the end of December, though actual tests may not mirror those targets if demand does not exist.
The House sent legislation authorizing $200 million in state support for annual local road and bridge repair programs back to the Senate Tuesday for final approval while also dealing with bills regarding inequities in maternal health and mail-in and early voting.
The mail-in and early voting conference committee report now heads to the Senate for a vote on Thursday.
The Senate is also about to receive the House-approved bill creating a commission to examine ways to reduce racial inequities in maternal health bills.
The House meets next on Thursday at 11 a.m. in an informal session.
The Senate is expected to take up a COVID related spending bill, the IT bond bill, the mail in voting legislation when it meets in formal session this Thursday.
Members of the Massachusetts Board of Education on Tuesday dove into the plan to reopen Massachusetts schools this fall under new COVID-19 precautions, with the unknown variables associated with a still-unsettled state budget looming over school districts.
The final DESE guidance will be released in July.
The education department will address topics including transportation, athletics and extracurriculars, special programs and populations, facilities and operations, academic calendar considerations and other key policies, remote learning resources, prerequisites for in-person reopenings, and the process for handling a COVID-19 case within a school community.
On Tuesday, members of the Northeast Clean Energy Council, the Alliance for Business Leadership, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, and the Climate Action Business Association convened lawmakers, administration officials, business owners and industry experts to discuss clean energy priorities and how to advance a clean energy agenda despite the pandemic.
With formal sessions slated to stop after July 31 climate advocates and business groups have been busy trying to influence a potential end-of-session climate policy bill.
After facing significant pushback from elected officials, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration abruptly reversed course Tuesday and announced it will not resume sending observers out to sea on fishing vessels until at least August.
NOAA had been planning to revive at-sea monitoring in the Northeast on Wednesday after more than three months of suspending the practice, describing it as a key function to track fishery health.
Late Tuesday afternoon, however, the agency said the evolving course of the pandemic “required us to re-evaluate and adapt to changing circumstances.”
A waiver exempting fishing vessels from their requirement to carry human observers or at-sea monitors will now remain in place through July 31, during which NOAA plans to conduct outreach with industry leaders and flesh out safety practices it will deploy when monitoring does return.
