PROVIDENCE – On Friday, Governor Gina Raimondo emphasized following rules around social distancing, business regulations and wearing face masks as Rhode Island becomes the first state in the northeast to slowly reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor stressed the vigilance of the individual and businesses to do their part in safely bringing the state’s economy back online while explaining her decision to let Rhode Island’s stay-at-home order expire on Saturday.
“Some people have asked me if it’s ok that we’re going ahead of Massachusetts and Connecticut,” said Raimondo. “The fact is, at this point, if you look at the facts on the ground, the data on the ground, we’re doing better. Therefore, we’re in a better position so we can start to lift our positions a little bit sooner.”
“If you try to sneak around the rules, bad things will happen,” she added. “But if you follow the rules, which are pretty simple, hard in some ways, but clear, we’re going to be fine. We’re going to get through this. We’ll get back to work, back to school, back to the beach.”
Non-essential retailers will be able to reopen with capacity restrictions, but restaurants and close-contact businesses, such as hair dressers and gyms, will remain closed during this first phase. Face masks will still be required to be worn by both customers and employees at retail stores, as well as any public place, social gatherings will still be limited to five people, visitation to nursing homes is still prohibited and people traveling to Rhode Island from other states for non-essential purposes will still be required to self-quarantine for 14 days. Employees who can work from home are still encouraged to do so during Phase 1.
Raimondo told the public to limit social networks and to not “race out this weekend.”
“This is not the weekend or time in the next few weeks to have a big family gathering or a barbeque,” she said. “But there are definitely some things to look forward to. You can go to the park. You can start to go shopping again.”
“It’s not a time to have big family gatherings and it is absolutely not the time to visit your mom in a nursing home or assisted living facility,” Raimondo added, again emphasizing to follow the rules this Sunday, Mother’s Day, noting that hospitalizations increased in the wake of Easter and Passover.
Raimondo also announced 249 new COVID-19 cases in the state, bringing Rhode Island’s total to 10,779 cases, along with an additional 11 COVID-19-related deaths, making a total of 399 fatalities in the state. 2,948 people had been tested in the prior day. There are currently 312 people hospitalized due to the novel coronavirus, with 71 of those patients in the ICU and 52 on ventilators. To date, 730 people have been discharged from the hospital.
Throughout her daily COVID-19 briefing Friday, Raimondo said she was making the decision to slowly reopen Rhode Island partially based on confidence in the public to “do the right thing.” According to the governor, that means wearing face masks while in public, adhering to social distancing policies to keep at least six feet away from others, not going out if sick and not crowding.
“I feel I’m governing from a place of confidence and strength in the people of Rhode Island,” she said. “You know the right thing to do.”
“The key to Phase 1 is patience and flexibility,” Raimondo continued. “I’ll be making a lot more announcements. As things change, we’re going to look to accelerate the rate of reopening, but we are never going to do anything that we think will hurt Rhode Islanders or risk going back to where we’ve just come from.”
The governor said she would be signing an executive order later today that will allow the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation (RIDBR), among other areas of government, to enforce new business regulations for reopening, which include screening employees for high temperature before entering the workplace and not going to work if sick, among other rules. The order will include graduated fines and the ability to shut down a business if it is found to be non-compliant, as well as a creation of a task force consisting of RIDOH, RIDBR and other state agencies to conduct inspections at businesses.
“We need, expect and will enforce compliance, because that’s in the best interest of everyone,” said Raimondo, while stressing the state wanted to work with businesses to ensure a safe reopening.
Those who need help in better understanding the rules for reopening businesses are encouraged to get in contact with the state by calling (401) 521-HELP or by contacting RIDOH or RIDBR.
“Just because we’re reopening the economy and reopening society doesn’t mean the virus has gone away,” said Raimondo. “It’s still here, it’s still dangerous, we still don’t have a vaccine and we still don’t have great treatments. So that means we have to be very careful. But it also means that it’s time to come on out, slowly, a step at a time.”
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