MA Eyes Huge Coronavirus Testing Increase, Would Be World Leader

Gov. Charlie Baker detailed a plan that would see Massachusetts test 75,000 people per day by the end of the year, a number five times what the daily high has been thus far.

Baker on Thursday afternoon unveiled "Massachusetts' roadmap to increase daily testing capacity." It included expanding access to testing, increasing laboratory capacity and implementing statewide contact tracing.

"Expanding testing is critical to opening workplaces and business," Baker said.

Massachusetts is currently a top-five testing state per capita, having fluctuated between 6,290 to 15,652 over the past three weeks. There were 8,536 tests performed in Wednesday's daily report.

The goal is to have 45,000 tests per day by the end of July and 75,000 by the end of December. Baker said reaching those goals will have Massachusetts as the world's leading tester on a per-capita basis.

Baker said the state currently has the lab capacity to process about 30,000 tests per day.

"We have capacity, what we need to do is create additional testing to fulfill the capacity we have," he said.

The plan is to increase testing in areas that have been hit hardest, including nursing homes and communities that have a high number of per-capita tests.

CVS is taking part in the expansion. The pharmacy is opening 10 drive-thru testing sites Friday across Massachusetts. People can register online for a drive-thru, self-swab test.

Baker said universal testing is not on the table, saying it's too far off to help with the phased reopening of Massachusetts.