Your Coronavirus Update – Today, June 2, 2020

Photo: RI State House at start of Pride Month – from PrideRI.org

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

“New York City opens next week, it took us 93 days to get here. Is this smart?” Governor Andrew Cuomo said of the mass protests. Thousands were seen not maintaining social distancing and not wearing masks. The governor said he worried about “super spreaders” in the crowds. “This is not advancing a reform agenda, this is not telling government officials to change, this is not helping beat the coronavirus,” he said. “It’s counterproductive for New York City in many ways.”

From officials at the WHO: “The U.S. government and people’s contribution and generosity towards global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world,” Tedros said in his daily briefing.

Health experts fear carriers of coronavirus, which causes the disease, with no symptoms could unwittingly infect others at protests where social distancing is simply not taking place. https://bit.ly/2XOzBJn

Lovepop – the company that makes pop up 3-D greeting cards will make 100,000 gowns for Massachusetts hospitals.

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

RI DATA

2 Deaths – 1 in 70s, 1 in 90s. Percent positive date declines

Providence Place Mall opens today, 11-7, limited hours

RI State Police say they will study security video to determine who vandalized the RI State House on Saturday

Effective yesterday, all parks, greenspaces and tennis courts will be open for public use in Providence. Though playgrounds and sporting facilities will remain closed, parking at our parks and green spaces will be available at half capacity.

RIPTA bus limits have been increased to 20 riders.

RI Governor’s Address

Crush Covid 19 App – 41,000 downloads

Keep up your contact tracing notebook, even if you have the app

Phase 2 officially begins today. Going to be a lot of activity we haven’t seen in months.

We’ve had a good weekend – state parks and beaches busiest they’ve ever been – generally people did a good job. RIDEM did well managing. Colt State and a few other parks had to be closed temporarily.  We have to do a better job at Lincoln Woods and Colt State – groups were too large, some sports activities too large.

Business compliance: RIDBR was monitoring businesses – 95% customers were wearing masks; nearly 100% of employees wearing masks. Need to do much better by having over 70% of businesses complete their business plan – go to reopeningri.com – and complete the plan. 70% is not ok.

Houses of Worship: First weekend open – all went well – broad compliance. Seemed like few people attended. Many houses of worship were closed. Not sure why. Take the time you need to put the measures in place before you open.

Child care centers: First day centers have been opened in months. 4,000 staff at nearly 700 facilities participated in a DHS webinar last month – almost 500 providers participated in sessions to come up with plans. About 600 plans are approved.

School lunch providers: TY for continuing to work to provide school lunch, and summertime lunches.

LGBTQ Community: Pride month – June – Celebrations will not be the same – no big social gatherings, no parades, no large meetings. Let’s get creative in our celebration. RI Pride created a distribution method for resources. Clinic for testing. Social services, etc. Very helpful with coronavirus issues and programs. Gov. will sign a proclamation today about Pride Month.

Protests: Over 1,000 marchers in Providence on Saturday – nearly all had on masks and were socially distant. Made me proud to be a Rhode Islander. A lot of very real and justified anger and the Covid crisis has shone light on the inequities. Your first amendment right to peacefully protest is a core of our democracy – continue to wear masks, keep distant, follow the rules, keep you and your families safe.

Dr. Scott: Equity: Health equity is major focus. While we can be encouraged by percent positivity of cases, we are focused on percent positives in Central Falls – 26%; Providence – 24%; North Providence – 17%; Pawtucket – 16% – Woonsocket – 15%. We want to take our interactions into these communities to assure equity in health.  We are now going to gather data on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Questions:

Dental issues: Working closely with oral health community. In need of PPE for this community.

Governor call with president: President encouraged governor’s to get tough with demonstrators. “To dominate” was President’s words. Governor said we need to ratchet up listening with empathy and sincerity. We have not seen extreme violence, fires and looting. We will do what we need to do and protect our community but we need to ask ourselves what can we do to play a more peaceful role.

Did covid19 crisis in minority communities contribute to where we are. “Racism existed before covid” – economic, housing, education, health inequality existed before covid. Covid has exacerbated all of this in many ways. Overlay unemployment and quarantine issues makes it worse – we have to try to maintain peace and move to a more just place.

Does protests tolerance mean we can also have other large group gatherings? All events like this are worrisome. Have to follow guidelines.

Nursing Homes/Assisted Living Centers – Dr. Scott: wants to work in a more tailored way with facilities going forward. Still no visitation in Phase 2. The older someone is, the more likely they have underlying illness, etc.

Outbreaks in tight areas such as Central Falls, Pawtucket are due in part to fear of losing jobs, getting tested, and density. Density is horrible with this virus.

It will be closer to a month to know how Phase 2 is going. Trying to come up with strategies for peaceful protests – maybe we offer testing, contact tracing, public health response – to allow protests but to prevent an outbreak.

All Cranston playgrounds and the Budlong Pool shall remain closed.

Lt. Gov. McKee is focusing on helping Rhode Island’s small businesses saying, “It would be easier if I could say I had this great conversation with the governor. We haven’t had a conversation about the virus.” Jim Hummel’s article on the Lt. Gov. is here: https://bit.ly/2XmQ3S2.

Starting this week, about 500 Providence city staff members will be furloughed 1 or 2 days each week through Sept. 5

Newport Creamery closed permanently at Warwick Mall

Sloth baby born at Roger Williams Park.

The park opened yesterday, June 1st – On June 1 & 2 Rhode Island residents who are active Zoo members only are invited to spend time at the Zoo. June 3 – 7 the Zoo will be open for Rhode Island residents only – members and non-members (per city & state directives). June 8 we will be open to the public. Online reservations will be required by all guests and members.​ More info at: http://rwpzoo.org/plan-your-visit