13 more COVID-19 deaths in R.I.; cases pass 4K

CASES OF COVID-19 in Rhode Island passed 4,000 as of Thursday. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHCASES OF COVID-19 in Rhode Island passed 4,000 as of Thursday. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
CASES OF COVID-19 in Rhode Island passed 4,000 as of Thursday. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

PROVIDENCE – Cases of COVID-19 reached 4,177 as of Thursday, marking a 366-case increase day to day, according to the R.I. Department of Health Friday.

The disease resulted in 13 more deaths Thursday, bringing the state total to 118.

Current hospitalizations due to COVID-19 totaled 252 at that time, an increase from 245 one day prior. Of those hospitalized 62 were in the Intensive Care Unit and 43 were on ventilators.

The number of tests conducted for the disease in the state totaled 30,761 Thursday, with 26,584 negative test results.

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Providence remained the municipality with the most positive test results at 1,093, followed by Pawtucket with 380 cases, Cranston with 245 cases and North Providence with 233 cases.

Of those whose deaths were reported Friday, 10 lived in “congregant care settings” such as nursing or group homes, said R.I. Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott at a press briefing held by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Friday afternoon.

People who died ranged in age from their 50s to older than 100. Nine of the deaths took place on Thursday, and the remaining four took place “in the days leading up to” Thursday, Alexander-Scott said.

Nursing home support teams with the ability to oversee onsite testing for residents and staff at facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks are in the works, she added. Additionally, the teams will oversee infection control and isolation protocols and monitor protective gear availability for staff members.

“We are also implementing a cyclical testing program for staff and residents to be tested every 7 to 10 days,” Alexander-Scott said.

These efforts are on top of plans to create quarantine sites where nursing home residents who were hospitalized with COVID-19 can temporarily go after they are discharged.

During the afternoon press briefing, Raimondo announced that Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., which insures more than 12,000 businesses in the state, is allowing frontline health care workers who contract the virus to file for workers’ compensation insurance.

Coverage is offered under the assumption that doctors, nurses, emergency responders, home health care workers and others were infected by COVID-19 at their workplaces.

More than 3,300 health care workers have responded to the state’s pleas for help, Raimondo added. The workers are being held in reserve in case extra hospital beds at the Rhode Island Convention Center and a former Citizen’s Bank building in Cranston begin to fill with COVID-19 patients.

A team of about 20 led by Steve King, head of Quonset Development Corp., is working toward of goal of amassing a consistent 30-day supply of protective equipment for the state’s health care workers, Raimondo said.

“We’re not there yet,” she said, adding that she hopes to have the stockpile in about a week.

So far, more than 1.2 million surgical masks, 1.5 million gloves and 10,000 face shields have been received, the governor said.

Orders are out for 10 million surgical masks, 1 million N95 masks and hundreds of thousands of other items such as gowns and gloves.

Within the next week, health officials are planning to begin using a system that will sanitize N95 masks to make them safe for re-use, Raimondo said.

This story has been updated to include details from the governor’s press briefing Friday.

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