MA Coronavirus Latest: Grim Expectations As Surge Date Draws Near

MASSACHUSETTS — State health officials on Thursday reported another 1,288 cases and 32 deaths from the coronavirus, increasing those totals to 8,966 cases and 154 deaths since the outbreak started. For the second straight day, the death of a person in their 30s — a woman from Suffolk County — was reported.

Here's the latest news on the coronavirus in Massachusetts:

• Between 42,000-172,000 people in Massachusetts could contract COVID-19 before the outbreak is over. Those numbers are according to a new model Gov. Charlie Baker cited Thursday for the first time putting a number on what the state could expect to see. Baker also said officials have asked for 1,400 ventilators from the federal government, but none have arrived, even as the expected surge of patients between April 10-20 draws closer.
• The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center will be converted into a field hospital, just like Worcester's DCU Center, in advance of a potential overflow for hospitals.
• More than 600 employees at Massachusetts hospitals have tested positive for the new coronavirus, including more than 100 each from two of Boston's biggest hospitals, Brigham and Women's and Mass. General Hospital.
• At least 15 are dead at a Norwood nursing home, where staff believe the outbreak spread.
• An inmate at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater died after being hospitalized with the coronavirus. The man, in his 50s, had been incarcerated since 1993.
• All parking areas at beaches managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation will Friday at noon. People have been congregating at beaches during the social distancing guidelines.
• Deaths in a Soldiers' Home in Holyoke have reached 18 during the outbreak, with at least 12 of the victims testing positive for the virus. The state is investigating the site of what is the largest outbreak of fatalities of Massachusetts.
• A massive Assembly Row parking lot in Somerville will soon be home to mask-sterilizing technology recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the fight against the new coronavirus.
• Local boards of health are allowed to share with police and other first responders the addresses of residents who have tested positive.
• Economic stimulus payments will begin arriving as early as 10 days from now. Here's what you need to know if you're expecting a check.
• Weekly sales for the Massachusetts Lottery have dropped 29 percent since March 1 as the virus kept people running to the corner store to pick up tickets.
• Worcester restaurateur David Thacker has spent the last year planning to open his dream bar. Then coronavirus came along. But he remains upbeat.
• The New England Patriots drew universal praise for flying more than 1 million N95 masks from China to Boston. Some 300,000 masks were set to go to New York, with another 100,000 going to Rhode Island.