MA Coronavirus: 70 More Deaths, 2,000+ New Cases

BOSTON, MA — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced 70 new deaths from the new coronavirus, bringing the state's death toll to 503. There are 2,151 new cases for a total of 18,941 cases.

There have been 94,958 tests performed across more than two dozen laboratories. That includes 7,447 new tests, according to the latest numbers.

On Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker signed three executive orders aimed at expanding the state's health care capacity. One order will allow for an easier transition for foreign-educated doctors to get licensed in Massachusetts, another will allow nursing school graduates and students in their last semester without licenses to practice under supervision and the third requires insurers to cover medical costs during the treatment of the coronavirus at out-of-network hospitals.

Some such hospitals may be the field sites at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and Worcester's DCU Center. The BCEC field hospital, which will be called Boston Hope, will have 1,000 beds. Half of the beds will be for non-critical COVID-19 patients and the other half will be for the homeless population.

Baker also said the state received another 100 ventilators from the federal stockpile, in addition to five ventilators from Boston Children's Hospital.

Baker spoke Thursday about students potentially returning to school. While districts are skeptical the state will hit its May 4 reopening date, Baker said Massachusetts isn't ready to be "writing off" the school year.

Several states have already canceled the rest of the school year. Schools in Massachusetts have been closed since March 15, and the state has already extended closures once amid the seemingly endless coronavirus crisis.

"We would be concerned about writing off the rest of the school year," Baker said in his Thursday news briefing.

Baker said if the school year is canceled, the state will have to come up with a way to make up for the lost education.