In the News

EAST LONGMEADOW – Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Congressman Richard Neal and Hasbro President and COO John Frascotti all toured Cartimundi, which produces games and Play-Doh for Hasbro, on April 25 and praised the company for re-tooling its manufacturing facility from making some of this country’s iconic board games to producing plastic face shields to be donated to hospitals in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Baker and Neal also used the occasion to provide updates on the state and federal response to the pandemic.

Baker said the company’s efforts are “a big deal.” He added he is “incredibly grateful.”

Frascotti said to Baker, “We are so appreciative of your leadership in these challenging times.” He added, “We thank healthcare workers around the word. They are our heroes.”

He explained that the Commonwealth has been in contact with 600 companies for protective equipment , 400 of them in Massachusetts. He noted that other local companies, including Hazen Paper and Universal Plastics, both in Holyoke, and Smith & Wesson in Springfield, have retooled to produce the vital equipment.

“It important we stand together as a united front,” he said.

Speaking of the pandemic at the Holyoke Soldiers Home,  Baker called the situation “a terrible tragedy.” He said a new clinical team to run the home is now in place and thanked Holyoke Medical Center for responding by accepting veterans in its facilities  from the Home who have tested negative for the virus.

He said the investigator he appointed has received cooperation and has “free reign.” Although Baker said he prefers the report be concluded “sooner than later,” he wants it to be through. As of April 24, the death toll at the Home was 73, he said.

When asked about working with other governors about re-opening states, Baker said knowing the status of the surge in cases is important. He explained that Massachusetts is in its surge, while Vermont and New Hampshire are out of theirs. Connecticut, he added is about where Massachusetts is, while Rhode Island is thought to be about a week away from its height in cases. New York and New Jersey are apparently on the downslide of their surge.

He stressed its important for bordering states to coordinate efforts and added Massachusetts doesn’t want border states to do something unwittingly to affect us and vice versa.

He expects conversation between Northeastern states about re-opening for the next four-to-five months, and to share best practices. Baker said the governors have been getting ideas from other countries who are fighting the pandemic, such as the way South Korea has done contact tracing.

Answering a question about the previous date of May 4 as the day life in the state may start to return to normal, Baker explained the May 4 date reflects an assumption the surge would hit the state in early April, but it was later.

He said an advisory would stay in place for residents to wear masks in public as people can carry the virus without showing symptoms.

Since Bakers appearance in East Longmeadow on April 25, he announced on April 28 an extention to May 18 of the stay at home order and business closures.

The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Neal spoke of the continued efforts in Washington to deliver aid to the American people and believes another bill is to be expected.

“I’ve already been working on Phase Four, which is going to include help for states, cities and towns across the country,” he said. “We believe that we will find a negotiated position on that, but we’re already at it, we are already working on it. I think that when you look at the exhaustion of state revenue, it’s amplified by the fact that this is still going to be with us for a while, so that expenditure is a wise use of the public purse.”

Neal said additional testing is necessary. The current status of testing “is not going to establish confidence in the marketplace if people are afraid to go to work.”

Neal said the bill that was signed into law on April 24 will do several things: send about $100 billion to hospitals, with $30 million earmarked for community health centers as well as $310 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program that will help small business with an emphasis on firms owned by women, minorities, Native American, veterans and farmers.

Neal applauded the bipartisanship approach to crafting these relief bills.