UPDATED SBA Assistance and Relief Post

Leave Provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act

• As of Sunday night, DPH reported a total of 38,077 cases.  The state has now confirmed a total of 1,706 deaths from the virus.
• The House and Senate are both scheduled to meet Tuesday at 11am in informal session.
• On Monday, Baker is scheduled to talk with House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka via conference call.
• Legislative leaders on Thursday signaled plans for a bill dealing with crisis care standards and data collection, but no bill is available yet.
• A bill signed by Governor Baker extends liability protections to health care workers treating patients during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Governor Baker originally filed the legislation and signed it into law Friday afternoon.
• The bill, S.2640, protects health care workers authorized to treat COVID-19 patients from lawsuits and civil liabilities over certain errors made in good faith, similar to protections that hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities have in place.”
• On Friday, lawmakers also sent to Governor Baker a bill they say would provide a safety net for renters, homeowners, and small businesses grappling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus state or emergency.
• The legislation approved Friday prohibits all non-essential evictions and foreclosures and provides mortgage borrowers with forbearance options and protects tenants from late fees.”
• On Sunday morning, Governor Baker appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation and said the Bay State is “right in the middle of the surge now.”
• Governor Baker called for more federal guidance on testing, and federal funding for states and local governments.
• White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx named Boston and Massachusetts when asked on Face the Nation which areas of the country are showing concerning signs.
• At 528 cases per 100,000 people, Massachusetts has the third most cases per capita of any state in the country, according to data compiled by the New York Times.   Only New York and New Jersey outpace the Bay State.
• At 23 deaths per 100,000 residents, Massachusetts has the sixth most deaths per capita.
• NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that he has spoken with Governor Baker and told him that New York is going to “be there for you” and that the Empire State will deliver 400 ventilators to Massachusetts “on 24 hours notice,” if they are needed.
• The federal government delivered only a few hundred of the 1,700 ventilators Massachusetts had requested.
• US Representative  Katherine Clark will introduce a new bill today that would require President Donald Trump to report “detailed information” to Congress every two weeks on the federal government’s transportation, distribution and possession of emergency resources during the coronavirus pandemic.
• US Representative Richard Neal said an agreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate on the next coronavirus relief package is ‘imminent.’ The veteran Massachusetts congressman spoke about the talks surrounding the fourth COVID-19 relief bill during a live appearance on WCVB’s ‘On the Record’ Sunday, which he made remotely from outside his Springfield home.”
• Protesters from a conservative group known as the United Cape Patriots gathered Sunday on Cape Cod to protest the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.