MA Coronavirus: 77 New Deaths, State Still On 'Upward Slope'

MASSACHUSETTS — Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday the state "is still on the upward slope of this pandemic" more than an hour before state health officials announced new daily highs in deaths and confirmed cases related to the new coronavirus. The Department of Public Health said there were 77 new deaths and 1,588 new cases for a total of 433 deaths and 16,790 cases.

The DPH for the first time Wednesday released race and ethnicity data. Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders cautioned the race and ethnicity data, which is current as of April 5, may be incomplete.

There have been 87,511 tests performed across more than two dozen laboratories.

• You can see the full numbers below.

Baker said he is "cautiously optimistic" social distancing and other measures are working to flatten the upward curve of cases in Massachusetts. But he also said a surge in cases is still expected between April 10-20, and that the state and its residents cannot let up now.

"This is not a time to get complacent," he said. "In fact this means the opposite."

Baker also issued a directive under the federal PREP Act that would protect health care workers from liability as they potentially make hard choices during an expected surge of COVID-19 patients. His administration also filed a law to expand such protections.

The state recently issued recommendations to help guide health care workers through what could be life-and-death choices in triage situations.

"We must also plan for the possibility the virus hits too many people in too short a time," Baker said.

Baker announced a new mobile testing operation set up at The Big E fairgrounds in West Springfield. That site and an existing one at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough will each test some 200 first responders and emergency response personnel a day.

"Thanks to a lot of hard work we continue to perform at a level above where we anticipated and we're one of the top testers in the country on a per-capita basis," Baker said .

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