Governor Gina Raimondo and the Rhode Island Department of Health hosted a press briefing at 1 pm on Wednesday, August 5th to provide an update on COVID-19 in Rhode Island.
What’s Up Newp will carry it live, and provide updates, below as it happens.
RIDOH released the following data today;
Updates from the Press Briefing;
Gov: On travel restrictions from neighboring states. we (RI) need to do better. Says this is a good thing, the less we travel the better. Says fewer people will come to Rhode Island, fewer will travel.
Gov: Beginning this afternoon, state will make it easier for Rhode Islanders who have travel plans to get rapid tests. More info at portal.ri.gov.
Gov: Rhode Island will ramping up their own out of state travel enforcement. 11% of recent positive results have been out of staters (Dr. Nicole Alexander Scott, RI Director of Health, later clarified that this 11% were Rhode Islanders who had traveled out of state and who had tested positive upon returning to Rhode Island). Reminder – Anyone coming to Rhode Island (or any Rhode Islanders that travels to and from) a state with more than 5% positivity rate, must produce a valid negative test or quarantine for 14 days.
Gov: Beginning this Sunday, visitors from those states must sign a certificate of compliance at hotels/rentals saying they’ve quarantined or have had a negative test result.
Gov: Members of National Guard will be at airport and train station reminding visitors of these restrictions/rules.
Gov: Bars continue to be a problem. 20% of bars across the state have been found not to be in compliance with recent inspections. Starting Friday, no bar areas in the State of Rhode Island not allowed to operate past 11 pm at night. Restaurants that have a bar can stay open but the bar area must be closed. Tomorrow, Reopening RI will have further details on what bars should look like and how they should operate beginning Friday.
Gov: Reminder – 15 is social gathering limit. Gov. reminds that it should be the same 15 people.
Gov: State has partnered with two new labs for testing – says it will help make more tests available and will guarantee test results can be returned in 48 hours.
Gov: State expanding asymptomatic testing to every Rhode Islander between the ages of 18-39. Beginning tonight, Rhode Islanders can sign up to be tested for free.
Gov: Encourages Rhode Islanders to download Crush COVID smarthphone app.
Gov: On schools – reminds Rhode Islanders of the five benchmarks regarding school reopening readiness. “If we don’t meet the hurdles, then we won’t open”. Gov. says that municipalities must have fewer than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in order to fully open schools. Today, that would mean Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Providence would not be able to fully open their schools. Each would have to open with a partial reopening plan.
Director of Health: Our numbers are not being compared accurately to other states. Says while Rhode Island is reporting tests and results, others are not. Says there is no federal or national organization reporting data, only media organizations and health organizations.
This story is being updated throughout the day, please refresh/check back for updates.