Lisa Kashinsky: President Trump issues disaster declaration for Massachusetts over coronavirus, pushes travel advisory for NY region

Mar. 29--President Trump issued a disaster declaration for Massachusetts and took steps to contain the novel coronavirus in "hotspots" across New York, Connecticut and New Jersey Saturday as U.S. cases surpassed more than 119,000.

Trump said Saturday night he had asked the Centers for Disease Control to issue a "strong Travel Advisory" across the three states after consulting with their governors and the White House coronavirus task force.

The announcement came hours after the president said he was considering a quarantine in the tri-state area during a visit to the U.S.N.S. Comfort ship Saturday before it departed Norfolk, Va., for New York.

"I have asked the @CDCgov to issue a strong Travel Advisory," Trump tweeted Saturday night. "A quarantine will not be necessary."

The White House announced Saturday that Trump had approved Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's federal disaster assistance request from Thursday, freeing up more federal resources to aid the Bay State's fight against coronavirus.

"The biggest thing it's going to mean for us in the short term is access to support services that relate specifically to COVID-19," Baker said at a press conference Saturday outside the American Red Cross blood donation center in Dedham.

"The thing that we've been having the biggest conversation with the feds about is talking to the Army Corps about setting up alternative care facilities, and I would expect that that in particular is going to be the thing that is most important to us in the short term," he added.

Baker said last weekend the state has been in talks with the Army Corps of Engineers to find facilities that can be repurposed into medical centers to treat coronavirus patients.

Under the disaster declaration, state agencies, local and tribal governments and certain private nonprofits will be reimbursed for 75% of their recovery efforts and emergency protective measures, including quarantine costs for the homeless and first responders. Funding will also be available for crisis counseling.

But in the here and now, Massachusetts hospitals still face a pressing need for more personal protective equipment -- and states have been running up against the federal government in the scramble to secure supplies.

"We got a clear message from the federal government and from the White House that we should develop our own supply lines and our own channels," Baker said, noting that the state was even looking outside the country for gear. But, "governors have run into the federal government on a number of occasions when we worked pretty hard to develop a supply line and actually bring PPE, personal protective equipment, here to Massachusetts."

Trump on Saturday said FEMA has shipped or delivered 11.6 million N95 respirators, 26 million surgical masks, 5.2 million face shields, 4.3 million surgical gowns, 22 million gloves and 8,100 ventilators.

Baker noted that FEMA officials "said they are going to work aggressively to coordinate" getting more personal protective gear. "I certainly hope that turns out to be true because it's a big issue for everybody."

The number of coronavirus patients hospitalized in Massachusetts rose to 350 on Saturday. Total cases jumped by more than 1,000 to 4,257. Nine new deaths brought the state's total to 44.

Among the deceased were an 89-year-old and 92-year-old from Woburn, the town's first COVID-19 deaths. "Both were beloved mothers and grandmothers and will be deeply missed," Mayor Scott Galvin said.

Former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson announced Saturday he had tested positive for the virus. But even as he and countless public officials urged folks to stay home to flatten the curve, hundreds of people were out walking along Nantasket Beach in Hull.

Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center at Worcester on Saturday began moving residents to sister facilities to free up space for the COVID-19 treatment center.

Matt Salmon, CEO of Salmon Health and Retirement, said in a Facebook post that state and University of Massachusetts health officials had approached him about creating "COVID-specific care and treatment centers" and that he agreed "out of a sense of duty."

"If we don't take these kind of drastic measures," he said, "this COVID crisis is going to devastate seniors in Massachusetts."

___

(c)2020 the Boston Herald

Visit the Boston Herald at www.bostonherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.