In a press conference Wednesday, Governor Charlie Baker urged calm and asked residents to take common-sense measures, like frequent hand-washing and especially staying home if they feel sick, as they would to prevent catching flu or the common cold when it came to COVID-19.
“I know that for many residents , all the talk about this public health threat can be stressful," Baker said. “Use common sense, practice good personal hygiene and if you are sick, stay home.”
Massachusetts health officials said that there are two known cases of infections from COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus, statewide – one confirmed and one “presumptive.”
State health officials have been monitoring some 700 individuals in Mass. who are now or have been in voluntary “self-quarantine,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders.
More than half of those individuals have completed a fourteen-day monitoring period and are no longer in quarantine, Sudders said, and another two hundred and fifty-nine were quarantined at their homes.
MBTA General manager Steve Poftak said that the T will begin disinfecting vehicles, rails and other surfaces and hopes to see that disinfection happening on a daily basis by the end of the week.
UMass-Amherst Kumble Subbaswamy said that the school, and other higher-educational institutions around the state, has canceled programs in China, South Korea, Italy and Iran as a precautionary measure and is requiring a two-week self-quarantine for any students returning from those or other higher-risk countries.
