Subscribe!
Your Coronavirus Update – Today, Feb. 2, 2021
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
RI Department of Health:
All State-run COVID-19 testing sites will be open on February 2. State-run testing sites are the sites that people schedule at through portal.ri.gov, as well as all K-12 testing sites. People who had appointments for Monday will not need to make new appointments. They can go to the site where their appointment was scheduled at any time with a print or screenshot of their confirmation notice, and they will be tested.
Additionally, COVID-19 vaccinations will not be happening on Monday at Rhode Island’s regional clinics in Bristol, Providence, and East Greenwich. (Two other regional clinics are in Smithfield and Narragansett, but they were not scheduled to operate on Monday.) These clinics are all operating on an appointment only basis. People who had appointments for Monday for the Bristol, Providence, and East Greenwich sites will be contacted directly about rescheduling. Most of the appointments for tomorrow were for first responders and healthcare providers. Some limited vaccinating of people 75 years of age and older had been scheduled for the clinics in Bristol and East Greenwich.
Connecticut lawmakers are considering a five-year proposal to boost state funding for nonprofit social service agencies, many of which have seen both an uptick in clients and increased costs during the pandemic.
The Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls is being used as an infusion center for COVID19 positive patients who are in need of this treatment that will also help keep them out of the hospital – concerns of some parents and teachers have met with assurances that it is safe to do so because the building is not being used as education is remote.
Twin River is now open with extended hours due to the lift on early closing times – benefits are being extended for employees who were in danger of completely losing theirs.
After the president met with Republican legislators, it now looks like March would be the earliest people could expect a stimulus payment – $1000 was proposed as opposed to $1400.
Lifespan Primary Care has vaccinations ongoing for their primary care patients. A check with Coastal Medical showed they do not know when they will have access to the vaccine but “once Coastal Medical is given the opportunity to immunize our patients, we’ll be ready”.
Tiverton Town Administrator Christopher Cotta has been quoted as saying about the vaccination plan that, with no notice, left a certain number of shots, dependent upon the city’s estimated over-75 population, on the ownership of the municipality to distribute said “It isn’t going well…it’s the most unorganized thing the state has done yet…It’s the most insulting thing the state has done yet.”
Providence: If you are a Providence resident and would like to be notified when additional COVID-19 vaccine doses become available, please sign up here VaccinatePVD.com. If you need support to fill out this form, please contact PVD311 by dialing 3-1-1 and a constituent representative can fill out the form on your behalf.
City and town officials in RI learned they would have the vaccine to distribute last Thursday morning. This was never disclosed at the Thursday, noon, public update to the RI community and the press.
Initial comments have been that the vaccinations work very well at the sites. Confusion is more in the registration area – but at the site there is no backlog or glitches happening.
Newport residents can pre-register for vaccines in the future here: https://www.cityofnewport.com/en-us/city-hall/departments/fire/community-resources/covid19/vaccine
Dr. Fine’s predictions for the future, as quoted in a local interview: “What we’re going to need is COVID-19 vaccinations two or three times a year, including different variants as we go and doing that for a couple of years, with 80 to 90% vaccination rates in order to get rid of this thing — we’re never going to get rid of it [but control it],”
Fenway mass vaccination site began Monday Feb. 1 and stayed open during the snowstorm.
The mass vaccination sites open around Massachusetts had a “very good week” last week and Gov. Charlie Baker predicted Monday morning that those efforts are “gonna have a very good week this week too,” despite a winter storm that could blanket the state in more than a foot of snow Monday into Tuesday.
The University of Maine will not require students and employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
From the RI Dept. of Health:
Widespread COVID-19 vaccination of people 75 years of age and older is scheduled to begin in early to mid-February. However, a small amount of vaccine (roughly 5,000 doses, total) was identified to start this population a little sooner, starting this weekend. That vaccine was allocated to cities and towns based on the percentages of their populations that are 75 years of age and older. Vaccinating will only be happening by appointment. There will be no walk-up vaccinating at these clinics. Only people with appointments will be vaccinated. (Cities and towns are handling the appointment process in different ways. Currently, there is no State-level vaccine waiting list.) More information about how the wider public 75-and-older can get vaccinated will be posted on covid.ri.gov/vaccination.
The Wyndham Hotel at 1850 Post is currently operating as a COVID-19 isolation center run by the National Guard. It has been listed for sale, for auction, and for delinquent taxes of $860,475.49. It currently holds over 50 patients.
A $130,000 grant will help Rhode Island connect to an updated National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The funding, from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 988 State Planning Grant, was awarded by Vibrant Emotional Health, a nonprofit administrator for the suicide prevention organization.
Benchmark Senior Living, a Waltham, Mass.-based senior housing provider with three locations in Rhode Island, has announced the creation of its Benchmark Coronavirus Advisory Council. Members include “a former U.S. Surgeon General, a former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a nationally known geriatric psychiatrist, a leading infection control preventionist and other experts.”
Massachusetts has identified 5 new cases of EU variant virus.
The vaccine clinic at Colt State Park in Bristol is rescheduled for WEDNESDAY, 2/3. You’ll be scheduled for the same time your Mon. appt was for. If you can’t make it call town hall tomorrow 401-625-6710
Cranston has received 1500 phone calls for 350 vaccinations – they are being put on a waiting list. Mayor Hopkins gives accolades to incoming Gov. McKee for helping the mayors right along the way. Hopkins said they were given 24 hours from the RIDOH. They set up 12 lines in the Cranston Senior Center – then had to call everyone to set up appointments and now to reschedule a week out.
RI Data – Feb. 1, 2021
Deaths: 5 (19 over past 3 days)
Tests – 6,710 – Positives – 249 (approx. 1,550 past 3 days) – % Positive – 3.7%
Hospitalized – 316 – In ICU – 47 – Ventilated – 29
Deaths in hospital – 4 – New Admissions – 33 – New Discharges – 30
First vaccines: 74,557 Total fully vaccinated – 2 shots: 25,917
Business Violators from RI DBR:
| Bonao Hair Salon | 67 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence | Compliance Order | 1/29/2021 |
| Cornerstone Barber | 290 Wood St., Bristol | Notice of Compliance with ICO Immediate Compliance Order | 1/29/2021 1/25/2021 |
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
A top epidemiologist and adviser to Biden urged the U.S. to prioritize giving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to as many Americans as possible before focusing the second dose. Both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines are comprised of two shots, though just receiving the first shot has shown to provide some protection.
Nebraska governor in quarantine after exposure to COVID-19
Johnson & Johnson, which sponsors a single-dose vaccine candidate, is expected to apply for emergency use authorization for their vaccine next week.
Antibodies that protect against the coronavirus often get transferred from mother to infant during pregnancy — a finding that indicates a mother passes along at least some protection to her child
Indoor dining in NYC will reopen at 25% capacity on Valentine’s Day if the current coronavirus positivity rate holds
The European Commission granted conditional approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people 18 years and older.
Federal health officials announced a $230 million deal to expand the use of a non-prescription at-home coronavirus test by Ellume to provide about 8.5 million tests a month in the United States.
Delaware has administered more than 100,000 doses of vaccine and ranks eighth in the nation in the percentage of its population that has received at least one shot.
The 100-year-old British army veteran who was knighted by the Queen for after raising nearly $45 million for his country’s National Health Service has tested positive for COVID-19, his family announced.
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer said on Monday it will help CureVac produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the latest drugmaker to offer up manufacturing capacity as supplies fall behind demand.
Just under 38% of nursing home staff chose to receive the vaccine while 78% of residents accepted it, according to the pharmacy program reports.
Seattle’s Mayor Jenny Durkan is calling on the state to stop hospital systems from giving special vaccine access to donors, board members or other connected community members following reports of that happening at several area hospital systems.
Portugal reported close to half of all its COVID-19 deaths in January, highlighting the severe worsening of the pandemic in a country that had largely been spared by the first waves
UK begins door-to-door testing of 80,000 people as new COVID variants spread http://reut.rs/3akNuFy
For asthma patients, the largest research review published to date provides even stronger evidence that the risk for severe or fatal COVID-19 in asthma patients is similar to that of the general population — as long as the asthma remains well controlled.
CVS is already providing covid vaccinations in stores in MA and CT.
What is the hold-up in RI ?
They have been “in talks” with Governor’s office.
Isn’t it a bit incongruous that CVS is not yet vaccinating in stores in its home state (RI)?
Their vaccines come from federal goverment under Trump and now Biden.
Could you please look into this delay? What is preventing CVS from starting vaccinations in RI stores?
Folks over 75 have nowhere to turn in RI even if immunocompromised.
Hearing today that the federal govt is saying they will ship vaccines directly to drug stores in the vaccination program – that sounds positive!
Yes, they have to cut out the middleman (state).
But CVS is already vaccinating at a store in Fall River. Alas one must be a resident of MA.
Would like to know what is the holdup in RI !
Yes and Walgreens is operating in CT