When Will The State Of Emergency End In Massachusetts?
WEST BRIDGEWATER (CBS) -- Wednesday marks once year since Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency as the coronavirus took hold in Massachusetts. Back then, few could have imagined it would still be in place in March of 2021.
Hundreds of cases and dozens of deaths are still regularly reported each day in the state. But with case numbers declining and vaccines rolling out, how much longer will the state of emergency last? Baker responded to that question at his news conference in West Bridgewater on Wednesday.
"There are two big question marks we can't answer with respect to the State of Emergency," Baker said. "One is, how real and how significant are some of the variants that are currently working their way around the world? Question number two is, what is going to happen with [vaccine] supply?"
Baker said researchers in Massachusetts have picked up "a number of" new coronavirus variants in the state.
"They are far more transmittable than some of the previous variants associated with COVID," he said. "But whether or not that is enough to create another surge is sort of an open question at this point."
When it comes to vaccine supply, Baker said the state has repeatedly been let down by promises of more shots that haven't materialized.
So far, Massachusetts has administered more than 2.2 million doses. Baker said that when supply does ramp up to meet demand, the state is capable of vaccinating nearly 2 million people a month.
"That would move the ball in a big way to get us to the point where I'd start feeling comfortable. . . that we could start thinking about where we are in respect to the emergency order," he said. "But there are still some unknowns out there that got to get worked through."
