PROVIDENCE – The spread of COVID-19 appears to be plateauing and “we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnnel,” Gov. Gina M. Raimondo said at her daily briefing Saturday.
“”We are in a plateau right now, which an excellent thing, to be stable,” she said. “This is all good news, and I can’t wait for the day when we start to see a decline.”
Before Raimondo’s briefing, the R.I. Department of Health said cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island increased by 430 on Saturday to 7,129, and there were 13 new deaths.
That brings the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the state to 215. Ten of the 13 deaths announced Saturday occurred in nursing homes.
Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized because of the coronavirus declined slightly on Saturday, from 267 to 263. The amount of people in intensive care unit remained level at 77, but those on a ventilator climbed from 48 to 52.
And number of those discharged from the hospital after being treated for COVID-19 rose by 33, from 377 to 410.
The Department of Health said 3,634 people were tested on Friday, up from 2,832 the day before. Over the course of the pandemic, 50,891 people have been tested, with 43,762 testing negative for the coronavirus.
“The fact that we’re plateauing and holding steady on cases and hospitalizations is a testament to your hard work, to your obeying of the stay-at-home order,” Raimondo said. “And it should give you a great sigh of relief and a sense of confidence that together are fighting effectively with the virus and we’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
She also warned that caution is still needed.
“These past few days, we have seen glimmers of hope,” Raimondo said. “Just in these past few days, which means don’t blow it this weekend. Don’t blow when the weather get nice. Hang in there just a bit more.”
Rhode Island Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott stressed that people should continue to seek routine medical care and emergency care, too.
She said health officials have noticed that immunization rates for many vaccines in the last month. “COVID-19 can be dangerous, but measles can be dangerous, as well as pertussis and varicella and influenza and other diseases,” Alexander-Scott said. “The key is to make sure that routine medical care continues during this time.”
The governor also reiterated the “deeply concerning” COVID-19 rate in the Latino community. More than 45% of the confirmed cases have been Latinos, and state health officials have previously said they’re investigating why this is happening and how to reduce it. The administration also has been trying to get public health message into the Latino community. “But clearly, this is an alarming statistic,” Raimondo said. “And it tells us we need to do more.”
On Tuesday, Raimondo said she will hold a Facebook town hall meeting with R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green that will be conducted in Spanish. While the focus of the public forum will be on education, Raimondo said she will take questions on any topic.
During Raimondo’s briefing at the State House on Saturday, dozens of protesters gathering outside, pushing for Raimondo to rescind the stay-at-home order. Many protesters, some wearing masks and other not, carried signs that said, “Knock it off, Gina! Reopen Rhode Island.”
“We don’t need a mother hen watching over us,” one protester could be heard shouting into a bullhorn during one video of the protest posted online.
Asked about the demonstration, Raimondo said she respects the protesters’ opinions and their ability to protest, but they should not be violating social-distancing rules. “”It’s not helpful, it’s not healthy, and it’s putting them at risk and their families at risk,” she said. “At this point, to violate social distancing rules, it’s just selfish.”
While Raimondo had an upbeat tone about the fight against COVID-19, she had dark forecasts for the state budget, both for this fiscal year and the next, which begins on July 1.
It’s been estimated that the state has lost hundreds of millions in expected revenue during the pandemic.
“It’s going to be brutal budget to balance,” she said.
Raimondo doesn’t foresee tackling budget issues until the health crisis has faded and a clearer picture of federal financial aid had formed, maybe a month from now.
She noted that President Donald Trump has expressed support that a new stimulus package include help for state governments, something that the Rhode Island congressional delegation strongly backs, according to the governor.
After that measure is approved by Congress, she said, “we’ll get to work with the legislature to do the hard decisions. There will definitely be cuts. And there may be increases. I don’t know what they are now.”
“It’s going to be hard,” she added. “I can’t sugarcoat it. There will be no easy way out of it.”
In response to a question about why there have been no furloughs or layoffs for state workers so far, Raimondo said she has encouraged businesses to avoid laying off its workers. “I’m trying to follow the same advice,” she said.
“As long as we’re in a position to avoid layoffs, I want to try to do that,” she said. “We may get to the point where layoffs and furloughs are inevitable. In fact, that’s obviously probable in light of what our deficit is going to look like.”
The state has redeployed some workers to “serve the crisis,” such as conducting contact tracing, Raimondo said. Such redeployment allows the state to avoid hiring an outside firm to do that job, she added.
During Saturday’s briefing, Raimondo also noted that the Rhode Island Artist Relief Fund she had announced a week early that had already collected about $15,000 in donations there were being to out-of-work artist “who need a hand.”
“Art is a major part of Rhode Island’s economy and the fact is right now our galleries, our studios our stages, they’re all dark and that means folks aren’t working,” Raimondo said.
Raimondo said a new website, riarts.org, has been created to allow artists to connect with resources available to them.
In addition, the governor unveiled an image created by artist Shepard Fairey, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate who gained wide-spread fame for his Barack Obama “Hope” image. Raimondo said she had contacted Fairey to see if would create an image specific to Rhode Island that could galvanize people in the fight against COVID-19. The image, titled “Rhode Island Angel of Hope and Strength,” shows a woman holding a torch, a red cross visible on her coat and angel wings behind her.
“It’s Rhode Island, it’s hopeful,” Raimondo said, noting that many of the people on the front lines of the pandemic are women.
The governor also encouraged all Rhode Islanders to create their own family-friendly art, from drawings to poetry, and share it on social media with the hashtag #RIarts.
(Updated throughout.)
