Coronavirus concerns: Charlie Baker urges schools to cancel trips abroad
The Baker administration is urging Massachusetts schools to cancel international trips, directed the MBTA to disinfect trains every four hours and approved funding to respond to the coronavirus threat, while the feds announced $500,000 in initial funds for the Bay State to combat the virus.
“While the risk of COVID-19 is low in Massachusetts, the administration strongly urges schools to cancel all upcoming organized international travel for the foreseeable future,” said state Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel.
“Taking this precaution will help protect both the students and the commonwealth as we are home to such a large number of colleges and universities,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.
Massachusetts has had one confirmed coronavirus case and one presumptive positive case. More than 100 people in the U.S. have been infected with the highly contagious disease.
Washington state on Wednesday reported its 10th death from coronavirus, and California announced its first death. There have been more than 90,000 coronavirus cases around the world.
Baker on Wednesday signed a supplemental budget that includes $95,000 for staff costs at the state public health lab associated with the coronavirus.
Massachusetts will also receive $500,000 in initial federal funding to respond to the coronavirus threat, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced.
A total of 719 people in Massachusetts have been self-quarantined — 470 of them have completed the 14-day monitoring at home, while 259 people remain under self-quarantine.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said the T is “in the process of getting hand sanitizer-type equipment out into our facilities and also ramping up a process by which we are disinfecting vehicles and stations.”
“Today we’re going to put a protocol in place where each one of our stations, all the contact areas where people are touching — for instance, guardrails, handrails, fare equipment — will be cleaned every 4 hours,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it will transfer the coronavirus response funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With that funding, the CDC will give an initial $25 million to the states and regions that have “borne the largest burden of response and preparedness activities to date,” a HHS press release states.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2vEousw
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