Subscribe!
Coronavirus Update – Today – March 30, 2020
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
New York, New Jersey & Connecticut residents are asked to stay in place for 14 days
Scotland is turning citizens away from retreating to the Scottish Highlands to escape the virus.
Train services reopened in Wuhan, China
Social distancing halved rate of spread in Australia, PM says as lockdown measures increase
YouTube & Netflix videos have defaulted to standard quality to preserve international bandwidth
US Open unlikely to be played in June – looking to August or September
Over 500 US distilleries now making hand sanitizer
Numbers begin to slow in Seattle
Health insurers Cigna and Humana are now waiving patient cost-sharing including hospitalizations and ambulance transfers, for their insureds.
James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks, is positive for coronavirus
Emergency hospital being built in Central Park, NY
Omaha Steaks working night and day packing foods for shipping to US
Champlin Foundation will donate $1.6M primarily to hospitals for ramping up their testing programs.
Voter registration moved to May 3rd – until May 4th to disaffiliate
Help brighten someone’s day by sharing an act of kindness you see or participate in by submitting your story through our Kindness Portal.
New goal is to have the country open by June 1st; social distancing to continue to May 1st.
President’s Press Conference
The President has extended the expected time frame due to the science review and models presented – the “stay at home” recommendation now extends through April.
Data shows deaths could go over 1-200,000 in US – if we had “done nothing” deaths could have topped 2 million
Abbott Labs’ fast test approved – 50,000 tests a day
2,000 hospital bed facility built in 4 days in NYC – FEMA, Nat’l Guard, etc.
Rapid testing of other kinds will be deployed among healthcare workers
New malaria treatment being administered to 1,000 people in NY
Convalescent plasma therapy for seriously ill patients underway as experiment
Looking at sterilization of facial masks
Vaccines still working, though that will take longer to produce
PPE increasing – being made by independent companies – and delivered by FedEx and UPS.
Extending guidelines to April 30th as the peak of disease will be in 2 weeks.
Expect June 1st as recovery date for country.
Wants to restore corporate meals and entertainment deduction to stimulate the restaurant and event business.
Hints that there may be hoarding of masks and ventilators by hospitals while other hospitals are in need now.
30 more deaths of isolation so we can mitigate a number of 2.2 million deaths down to 100,000 or less.
Easter could be the peak of deaths.
“I wish we could have our old lives back,” – Pres. Trump
What matters is a victory – I want our life back – I want the world back”
Humana and Cigna are going to waive co-pays and deductibles on treatment – may be other companies.
Money is coming in – concerned that some state’s computer systems may not be able to handle it – the influx of work.
Possibility of quarantining 3 states – advice to do it vs. “too much to do” – hard to enforce. People weren’t frightened, but they may have gotten their attention on how serious this is.
894,000 tests done in US. Will continue to increase. Point of care test: Abbott test, 15-minute test. 18,000 machines all over US – Abbott will provide 50,000 tests per day.
GM has stepped up and outlier companies have, too.
FEMA built hospitals in NY, NJ, and Louisiana.
Louisiana is an example of what happens when mitigation isn’t done. Mardi Gras exacerbated the situation.
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
The Oak Hill Nursing Home in Pawtucket has 6 patients with coronavirus – the facility has a capacity of approx. 130.
RI Monthly’s advice: “So if you want your kid to play Little League this year; if you want to see WaterFire this summer; if you’ve already binge-watched every WrestleMania; and if your significant other isn’t as good a cook as he or she thinks, there’s really only one option right now: Stay home for the next few weeks.”
Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA has been closed to non-residents
Allie’s Donuts has closed for now.
The Rhode Island National Guard will use the Community College of Rhode Island’s Warwick campus and URI as a mobile testing
GOVERNOR’S PRESS CONFERENCE
Childcare – NEW: Effective tomorrow, all childcare licenses are suspended to April 4th. Then RI will evaluate. It is NOT safe. Care.com is the only acceptable childcare. Asking any Rhode Islander who can volunteer to do childcare.
Write down a list of 4-5 people we
will associate with – they should not be different people day to day.
Only 50-60% compliance in regulations – still large groups of people at Narragansett, etc.
Stay at Home order – essentially what we all should be doing except for going to work, or grocery store, or pharmacy, or take-out, etc.
Don’t look for ways to get around the rules – look for ways to comply with the rules.
Starting today all non-critical retail businesses must shut down their physical locations. Not talking about take-out restaurants, manufacturing companies. TY to industrial leaders in state. Encourage online shopping. Call 521-HELP to get a website, learn how to advertise, etc. NOTE: Non-critical businesses who can allow pickup or delivery CAN do this. Dbr.ri.gov for more info.
Domestic travel – any person coming to RI from any other, non-work-related purpose must quarantine. We now have highway signs at southern border with CT – we may add more stops. Anyone planning to stay here, they are ORDERED into quarantine for 14 days, provide contact info, and National Guard will continue to do walkabouts in beach communities.
RI Medicaid – if you are on now it will continue until crisis is over – no need to recertify
RIDMV – 90-day extension on expirations in March/April.
Free tech support for companies with 10 employees or fewer to provide digital payment functionality, website, or remote workers online, etc. If you want to take advantage of this commerceri.com or call 521-HELP. All small businesses, regardless of essential or non-essential services are eligible.
No plans to have prisoners get early release, regardless of guard testing positive.
ALL out of state passenger vehicles will now be required to stop at information stops. Not just NY plates. Not commercial. If they do not stop a RI State Police car will pull them over. Gov. Raimondo did talk to Gov. Cuomo.
If people see groups of people or others not complying with the quarantine or group-of-5 – they should take a photo and post it on Twitter or on Facebook.
Nursing homes – 3 different nursing homes now have positive people. Quarantine a new person coming in. That’s high-risk population.
CARE.com – dangers of using people you don’t know. CARE.com does do background checks. Also, will tell you how to screen potential caregivers. System is designed to level the playing field so parents who would not have access to a system like this could have access like “head of DHS” has.
Gun stores being considered “essential” in many other states – RI is trying to align our laws with our neighbors.
Governor’s Press Release:
Governor Gina M. Raimondo today made several announcements about the state’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
• Domestic Travel: Starting today, Rhode Island will have highway signs directing all out-of-state drivers to pull over at information stations on the southern border with Connecticut. State police will ensure that anyone planning to stay in Rhode Island knows that they’re required to quarantine for 14 days. National Guard members will ask drivers to provide their contact information to be passed on to the Department of Health.
• Child Care: Effective tomorrow, the state is suspending all childcare licenses until April 4. Rhode Island has partnered with Care.com to increase childcare access to Rhode Islanders. In addition to providing 90 days of free, premium access to their website, Care.com has created portals specifically for frontline workers and caregivers in Rhode Island. Starting today, frontline workers looking for childcare can visit www.care.com/rineed to find a local caregiver. Rhode Island residents interested in becoming caregivers can visit www.care.com/rigive to register. Potential caregivers are subject to Care.com’s extensive background and safety checks. While childcare services are not typically free of charge, the Rhode Island portal gives residents the ability to waive their fees and volunteer as caregivers, providing additional support to frontline workers.
• Medicaid: Rhode Island Medicaid will be suspending all terminations and quarterly income verifications for the duration of this emergency.
• DMV: Rhode Islanders will have a 90-day extension on expirations for March or April. This goes beyond the original 30-day extension announced weeks ago and will apply to all licenses, registrations, inspections, permits, and temporary plates.
The Governor announced today that Rhode Island has 55 additional cases of COVID-19. This brings Rhode Island’s case count to 294.
Data
Rhode Island COVID-19 data is available online. • Number of Rhode Island COVID-19 positive (including presumptive positive) cases: 294 • Number of Rhode Islanders who had negative test results: 2,840 • Number of people who are currently instructed to self-quarantine in Rhode Island: approximately 1,000.
Distribution of Rhode Island COVID-19 patients by city/town of residence: • Barrington – 6 • Bristol – 5 • Burrillville – 7 • Central Falls – fewer than 5 • Charlestown – fewer than 5 • Coventry – 6 • Cranston – 31 • Cumberland – 8 • East Greenwich – fewer than 5 • East Providence – 13 • Exeter – fewer than 5 • Foster – fewer than 5 • Glocester – fewer than 5 • Hopkinton – fewer than 5 • Jamestown – fewer than 5 • Johnston – 7 • Lincoln – fewer than 5 • Little Compton – fewer than 5 • Middletown – 6 • Narragansett – fewer than 5 • New Shoreham – 0 • Newport – 6 • North Kingstown – 8 • North Providence – fewer than 5 • North Smithfield – fewer than 5 • Pawtucket – 14 • Portsmouth – fewer than 5 • Providence – 63 • Richmond – 0 • Scituate – fewer than 5 • Smithfield – 5 • South Kingstown – 8 • Tiverton – 5 • Warren – fewer than 5 • Warwick – 16 • West Greenwich – 0 • West Warwick – 6 • Westerly – 6 • Woonsocket – fewer than 5
Please note that determination of some places of residence are still pending.
Number of Rhode Island COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized: 35
