PROVIDENCE – After failing to meet the goal for testing residents without symptoms of the coronavirus, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo announced on Friday that she is expanding the asymptomatic tests to include restaurant workers and bus drivers.
Earlier this week, Raimondo said she was looking for 900 asymptomatic tests to be conducted each day for close contact workers, meaning tests conducted to people without any coronavirus symptoms. These close contact workers included employees at gyms, hair salons, barber shops, massage parlors and childcare facilities. On Friday, she said only about 400 tests were being conducted each day.
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“That’s not good enough. I’m not satisfied with that. We have to do better,” said Raimondo.
Vulnerable communities have been most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic over the last several months, including communities such as Central Falls, Pawtucket and parts of Providence. Raimondo said that just last week, the test positive rate was nearly 20% last week in these communities, but is now below 20% this week, and Pawtucket is closer to 10%.
“The data is trending in the right direction,” said Raimondo who stressed it is the state’s goal to implement additional testing centers in dense communities next week.
Raimondo announced a few weeks ago that a $5 million initiative would be reserved to provide more housing. On Friday, she announced a special request to landlords across the state to pledge 100 rental units, by July 1, to be rented to families with housing vouchers in the newly formed Housing Now campaign. Landlords who do commit to the program will be given a $2,000 signing bonus for the first unit and then another $500 for each additional unit. The campaign was in partnership with the Rhode Island Realtors Association and United Way of Rhode Island.
“This really is a matter of life and death,” said Raimondo, who told landlords to call 211 for more information.
The governor stressed that she is committed to transparency, and later Friday afternoon, a new website will be launched that will track all COVID-19 spending from the $1.5 billion in secured emergency relief funds.
“Every penny we spend will be accounted for on this website,” said Raimondo, who expects that the website will be updated monthly on all federal money spent on vendors, contractors, testing and contract tracing. “I think everyone deserves to know how your tax dollars are being spent.”
The governor’s briefing on Friday comes as the number of COVID-19 cases in Rhode Island increased by 84 on Thursday, now totaling 15,947 to date, the R.I. Department of Health said Friday.
Deaths due to the virus increased by 10 day to day to 833.
Current hospitalizations in the state totaled 141 on Thursday, a decline from 146 one day prior. Of those hospitalized, 28 were in intensive care units and 17 were on ventilators. To date, 1,435 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital.
There were 3,639 tests for the virus conducted Thursday, bringing the state testing total to 191,518.
R.I. Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said there are clear disparities when it comes to serology testing, which determines if someone has antibodies for the virus. She said 5,000 households in Rhode Island were invited to participate where 2.2% of Rhode Islanders were exposed to COVID-19, but rates were higher in Hispanic and Black residents.
This story has been updated to include details from the governor’s press conference.
