Governor Gina Raimondo and the Rhode Island Department of Health will host a press briefing at 1 pm on Wednesday, September 9th to provide an update on COVID-19 in Rhode Island.
Watch the press briefing live below and scroll down during and/or after the press briefing for our updates from the briefing.
Updates from the press briefing
Gov: Reminder that press briefings take place only on Wednesday’s moving forward.
Gov: Reports that overall she was pleased at compliance over Labor Day Weekend. “We saw much better compliance over the Labor Day weekend than we saw during July 4th weekend. Employee mask-wearing was about 96%, customer mask-wearing was 93%. RIDOH staff were out over the weekend handing out more than 2,000 masks”. Governor said restaurant and bars have really stepped it up over the past week. More than 94% had customers properly separated from bartenders, approximately 93% had no mingling at the bar area, and a full 99% complied with the requirement to closed by 11 pm.
Gov: Only 85% of businesses are conducting health screenings/symptom tracking at their businesses. Governor says Rhode Island businesses have to do better with health screenings.
Gov: Crush COVID App has a new update, includes symptom tracking. Users can update how they are feeling in the app and show bars/restaurants/businesses how they are feeling upon arrival via the app.
Gov: State launching a new contest this Friday. Asking Rhode Islanders to download Crush COVID app and complete symptom diary for 7 consecutive days to enter for a chance to win a night’s stay in Providence.
Gov: Last week, RIDOH sent updated guidance to nursing homes.
Gov: Reminds Rhode Islanders to get their flu shots. Wants to make sure emergency departments, healthcare systems doesn’t get overrun by waves of people dealing with the flu.
Gov: More than a dozen testing sites will entirely be devoted to K-12 testing. The full list of which will be posted on back2schoolri.com by the end of this week. A hotline to be used for students and school staff to get tested will be shared on Friday.
The latest data from the Rhode Island Department of Health
