BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker reacted angrily on Friday to the notion that the commonwealth might be developing an exit plan to "reopen" Massachusetts after the COVID-19 crisis.

 

On an afternoon when his daily press briefing was devoted to discussing Massachusetts' preparation for a coming surge of cases and announcing guidance that Bay Staters wear masks whenever social distancing is not possible in public, it was a question toward the end of his press availability that caused the governor to raise his voice.

 

A reporter, referencing recent comments from New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio about a potential timetable for relaxing social distancing guidelines, asked Baker if Massachusetts officials were talking about an exit plan.

 

Baker paused for a moment and then calmly replied.

 

"We are about to enter what will probably be the most difficult period we are going to face in dealing with this particular virus at this particular time, period," Baker said. "Our energies, our focus, our efforts and our daily work are about making sure that our health-care community and our service community — social service, first-responders, shelter providers, all the rest — have the capacity and the staff that they need to ensure that we do everything we can on behalf of the people who are going to find their way into the shelter or the health care system over the course of the the next several weeks."

 

Gradually over the course of a three-minute response, Baker's voice grew louder.

 

"People have put a ton of work into preparing for this, so that we can do everything we can to make sure that not only are we able to serve the people who are going to be dealing with COVID-19, but that we are able to make sure our health care system can continue to take care of the people who have the incidents and the illnesses and the heart attacks and everything else that happens every single day in Massachusetts," he said.

 

"One of the biggest challenges other countries have faced when they have gone through the surge is not must managing the surge itself but the impact that surge has on its ability to actually service people who have solvable problems but who can't get taken care of."

 

He later referenced the Easter and Passover holidays.

 

"If you're looking for something to pray for this weekend, you should be praying for the families and the neighbors and the friends who are going to be working their way through this surge over the next several weeks, whether they are health care workers or patients or hospital leaders or just folks out in the community who are volunteering to step up and help with some of the ancillary issues associated with food or shelter or whatever it might be," Baker said. "We'll start talking about other stuff eventually. But the focus right now really needs to be on what's right in front of us. And what's right in front of is going to be a very difficult few weeks in managing something that's never happened before in Massachusetts."

 

Baker was joined at the podium on Friday by the president and CEO of Boston Medical Center, who talked about the steps her facility has taken to prepare for the surge.

 

"BMC quickly mobilized first to reorganize our campus to maximize capacity for COVID-19 patients and second to reduce the risk to the most vulnerable, the homeless people among us, and increase access to care for everyone," Kate Walsh said. "We immediately canceled all elective surgery and routine ambulatory activity. We created a clinic to screen and test patients with flu-like systems. We converted beds across the hospital to almost double our ICU capacity and expand our medical surgical bed capacity for COVID-19 patients. We repurposed endoscopy suites and post-operative recovery space. We transferred our pediatric inpatients to Boston Children's Hospital … and as a result, we have a number of adult patients in some brightly colored rooms."

 

And even with all that preparation, Walsh said on Sunday that Boston Medical had to transfer some of its intensive care patients to other hospitals.

 

She talked about how the city hospital serves a population that does not always have the luxury of "sheltering in place" and is instead forced to work "cleaning buildings, preparing food, stocking shelves, loading trucks."

 

She talked about Boston Medical's work with other partners to open the East Newton Pavilion in the South End to accommodate homeless patients; it welcomed its first 20 last night.

 

Walsh closed on an optimistic note, saying Boston Medical Center's plan is working and the facility is keeping pace, though, "We know we are not out of the woods."

 

"I truly believe that Massachusetts, with the leadership of the Baker administration in Boston, with the leadership of [Boston] Mayor Walsh, combined with the expertise and empathy of our incredible healthcare teams and strict social distancing practice by everyone … I'm hopeful we can beat the odds on this," Kate Walsh said.

 

Baker reported that statewide, Boston is adding 3,500 hospital beds for ICU care and acute care since the COVID-19 crisis began. About 2,500 beds are coming online from hospital surge planning and 1,000 beds are being added by the field hospitals the commonwealth has set up at sites like the DCU Center in Worcester.

 

He said the state's modeling for the surge suggests it will need about 2,700 additional ICU beds — 2,200 for COVID-19 patients.

 

So far, he reported, the state's total inventory of hospital beds is keeping pace with demand with an occupancy rate of about 55 percent.

 

"Thanks to everything we are all doing to stay home and practice good hygiene and the incredible work of our medical community, capacity is manageable right now," Baker said. "But what we're seeing in the models predicts a big increase in cases in the weeks ahead. That means our healthcare system will be stretched like never before."

 

Baker said Friday that the state's modeling — based largely on the experience in Wuhan, China — predicts the surge of COVID-19 cases will come between April 10 (Friday) and April 20, though recent data suggests it may come close to the later date.

 

"Our model puts a peak at around 2,500 new confirmed cases per day," he said. "Yesterday, we reported 2,100 new cases. If we do not see a flattening in the daily cases, we may need to make some adjustments in our planning, and we will. At this time, we see evidence that we're still on the upward slope of the pandemic."

 

And the state took another step Friday to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, issuing a Department of Public Health advisory that recommends Massachusetts residents wear a mask or cover their face in public when they cannot safely social distance.

 

In response to a question later in the briefing, Baker explained why now is the right time to advise widespread use of masks but continued to reject the notion of a statewide curfew.

 

"The fundamental reason I think this is important as we go forward is the growing body of evidence that … a significant minority of the population that becomes infected with COVID-19 never becomes symptomatic," Baker said. "That's why that mask or that face covering is important, not just to protect you from others but also to protect others from you."

 

On curfews, Baker again repeated his message that people should stay home except when making essential trips to grocery stores or pharmacies or medical appointments, and he said he believes Massachusetts residents are getting the message.

 

"If local communities want to recommend that people not be out at night in their communities, they are free to do that under our guidance," he added.

 

On other fronts in the battle against COVID-19 on Friday:

 

• Baker said he welcomed Friday's announcement by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling that his office is looking into the situation at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home.

 

"Remember that the entity that does the survey work for the soldiers home is the [Veterans Affairs], which is a federal entity," said Baker, who noted that the state named its own special investigator on April 1.

 

• Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said the commonwealth is expecting another 200 ventilators from the federal stockpile next week. The state more recently received 100 but had asked for 1,400.

 

• Sudders also reported that the commonwealth's mobile testing initiative has collected samples at 150 facilities, including 20 on Friday.

 

"Yesterday, I announced that the program expanded to include assisted living residences and that nursing facilities can now request to receive test kits to perform the sample collection, rather than having the National Guard specialists perform the testing on site," Sudders said. "Today, I'm pleased to announce that we have started a partnership with the largest EMS provider in New England, and we're now doing mobile testing at some of our very vulnerable group homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities."

 

• Baker said that, so far, more than 4,000 volunteers have signed up through the commonwealth's web portal to assist with the response to the virus.

 

"But we could use more," he said. "Mass Responds needs volunteers of all skill levels and backgrounds in both medical and non-medical professions. If you're a licensed or certified healthcare provider, a public health professional or retiree or an individual with an interest in helping your community, please visit the website, www.maresponds.org.