Baker: Testing, Not Tweeting Will Determine State's Path Forward
BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday that he plans to follow the phased approach guidelines to reopening the commonwealth that were issued on Thursday and not be distracted by the noise of President Trump's Friday tweets.
At his daily briefing on the state's efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Baker was asked whether there was a change in tone from Washington in light of three presidential pronouncements on Twitter, issued at about noon on Friday, that read, "Liberate Minnesota!," "Liberate Michigan!," and "Liberate Virginia, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!"
The governors of the three states Trump mentioned are Democrats. In all three states, there have been protests against "stay-at-home" orders.
Baker, a Republican, declined to address the tweets directly but pivoted instead to the three-phase plan unveiled Thursday at the White House by Trump and infectious disease experts Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"I gotta go with the guidance that they put out [Thursday]," Baker said. "If you read the guidance that was put out by the administration, which was built off the task force that was appointed by the president … the guidance makes absolutely clear that different states are in different places with respect to the surge, with respect to the impact that COVID's had on their states. And states need to drive the process with respect to reopening.
"There's no way you can read that and interpret anything other than that. As far as I'm concerned, that means we should work together with our colleagues in the Northeast, make sure we don't surprise each other with respect to decisions that we make and be very careful once we get past the surge and have 14 days of declining positive tests and not make decisions in a vacuum."
Massachusetts this week signed on with a multi-state council that includes New York, Connecticut and New Jersey to communicate on how the states in the Northeast would gradually "open" from the stay-home policies put in place to contain the pandemic.
Baker said the data shows Massachusetts still is on the upward side of the bell curve that public health experts use to measure the impact of the novel coronavirus.
On Friday, the state announced 2,221 new cases of COVID-19 in the commonwealth for a total of 34,402 cases statewide, including 383 cases in Berkshire County.
It will require 14 consecutive days of steady declines in the number of positive tests to begin a "phased comeback" under the federal guidelines issued Thursday, Baker said.
He also spoke at length about different types of tests, including the antibody tests that will help health officials understand how many people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and carry the bug without ever having shown symptoms.
"Over time, what you really want is a sense about how many people have actually had the virus and are immune for some period of time," Baker said. "And, on that one, there's still research that needs to be done to figure out how long you stay immune.
"Remember, if you get the flu, you're not supposed to get it twice in a season, but it comes back in a different flavor the next year. … That's why people get flu shots on an annualized basis."
And Baker called on the federal government to play a larger role in building the nation's capacity to test.
"I think most governors would say we need to do a lot more [testing]," he said. "And we are constantly talking to the players in the test community and the lab community about increasing capacity. But some of the work associated with increasing capacity is going to require the [Centers for Disease Control] and the [Food and Drug Administration] to do more.
"And I've made it clear on calls with governors, I made clear on calls with federal officials, I made clear on calls with almost everybody I've talked to about this stuff for the past few weeks, that if there is going to be another federal endeavor that comes on the heels of the three stimulus bills, they absolutely, positively need to include in that significant resources for the CDC and the FDA to up their game. They are a major player in establishing a far more significant testing capacity in the United States."
As for a different kind of testing, Baker once again declined to speculate about when he will make a decision on extending a statewide school closure past May 4.
Baker said he is continuing to talk with state officials as well as school superintendents, city and town managers and select boards about the issue. He said he understood the need for clarity around whether the schools will be reopened but identified two factors driving a desire to get kids back in the classroom.
"If you could wave a magic wand, I believe the vast majority of school district leaders would like to see the kids back before the end of the year for two reasons," Baker said. "No. 1, to be able to do some competency testing and figure out what the gaps may be that a lot of kids are going to have because they haven't gone to school, for the most part, for the last month and a half and may not go for some time going forward — so that there's some idea what things people could work on over the summer so they're not completely behind when they show up in the fall.
"And the second thing is to just have a chance to settle people in and talk a little bit about the next year."
Baker once again said he would be announcing a decision on the schools "soon."
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