PROVIDENCE – The capital city and Central Falls are the only two school districts in Rhode Island that do not have the “green light” from the R.I. Department of Health to reopen for full in-person learning on Sept. 14, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo announced during her coronavirus briefing on Monday.
Providence is the largest public-school district in the state.
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Providence and Central Falls schools will reopen for partial in-person learning with fewer students in the classroom, with a focus on getting as many as the younger students and those with learning differences in the classroom as possible, according to the governor.
In a month, Raimondo said, the R.I. Department of Health will have a check-in with these two cities to see if it’s “appropriate” for the schools to return to full, in-person learning.
Raimondo said the state has now met all five of the metrics that she outlined earlier this summer to reopen schools. These metrics are related to the hospitalizations and the rate that the coronavirus spreads. Each municipality, other than Providence and Central Falls have met these metrics, said Raimondo.
“There’s no such thing as risk free,” said Raimondo, who emphasized that it is inevitable that coronavirus cases will occur among students and teachers when schools reopen. However, testing, which was in the spotlight for long returns on results that could tally up to five days or more just a month ago, have now fallen to less than two days.
Raimondo had previously said that the state must be able to test all students and staff within 72 hours.
“I don’t want you to feel scared if you’re in Providence or Central Falls,” said Raimondo, who said that the state is “over-testing” in these urban areas.
Both the state’s capital and Central Falls exceeded the mark of 100 new cases per 100,000 residents per week, baring those city’s schools from reopening from full in-person learning.
“The more tests, the more cases you find,” said Raimondo, who announced that the state is going to focus more on the percent positive rate instead of the number of new cases.
The governor announced that the state created a separate K-12 testing system with more than a dozen dedicated swab sites for students and teachers in addition to having 10 rapid testing machines to test students or teachers who develop symptoms during the school day and need immediate results.
When asked a direct question from a reporter regarding teachers being able to get tested prior to the beginning of school, Alexander-Scott said all teachers, including substitute teachers will be able to access testing if they are experiencing symptoms.
“Teachers do not need to get tested in order to return to school,” said Alexander-Scott. “Testing people without symptoms is just one moment in time.”
The governor said Tuesday’s press conference is going to be dedicated to testing.
“We’ve had months of practice,” said R.I. Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott of contract tracing and quarantining positive cases.
Every reopening school plan includes cleaning protocols, mask wearing, contact tracing and a plan for positive cases of students and teachers, according to the governor.
Final Decisions
However, the green-light from the state doesn’t mean that each district will go back to in-person learning on Sept. 14. Despite the governor’s go-ahead, many final decisions will be left to superintendents and individual school districts.
“Open as much as you can on Sept. 14,” said Raimondo to every other school district in the state other than Providence and Central Falls.
The governor said that some districts will reopen in phases, such as only bringing in transitional grades such as Kindergarteners and first graders, sixth graders and ninth graders during the first week.
“Every child should have some in-person learning,” said Raimondo. “We are going to ease into full in-person learning between Sept. 14 and Oct. 13.”
Private and parochial schools have the “go-ahead” to reopen fully in-person, according to the governor, who said the state will support their administrators if they need help.
“We wish you luck,” said Raimondo.
The governor’s press conference comes as cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island increased by 167 from Aug. 28 through Sunday, the R.I. Department of Health said Monday.
Current hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients totaled 77, a decline from 80 one day prior. The three-day average of hospitalizations in the state was 77. Of those hospitalized, nine were in intensive care units and five were on ventilators.
“We’re in a stable place,” said Raimondo. “Have some confidence… But continue to be vigilant.”
Cases in the state have totaled 21,949 to date, an increase of 266 from figures reported on Aug. 28, accounting for day-to-day increases and revisions for previous days. The three-day average of new cases on Sunday was 56.
The state also announced two additional deaths due to the virus, bringing the state total to 1,048.
Raimondo reminded Rhode Islanders that social gatherings continue to cap at 15 people for this upcoming holiday weekend for Labor Day celebrations.
“When people get together, particularly indoors… that’s when you see cases increase,” said Raimondo, who warned of slight hospitalization spikes that occurred after the July 4 holiday. “Keep your networks small.”
There were 3,936 tests conducted on Sunday, with an overall positive rate of 1.2%.When excluding both repeat negative and repeat positive results, the positive rate for the day was 2.4%. There have been 524,414 tests administered in Rhode Island to date.
“Our percent positive rate is among the lowest that we’ve seen,” said Raimondo. “We are starting to test more than ever.”
Last week, Rhode Island broke several records for the highest number of tests administered in a single day. Overall, Raimondo said that 45,000 COVID-19 tests were completed within the past seven days.
“The testing numbers are going to continue to increase,” said Raimondo.
The governor is set to host a press conference each day this week regarding the reopening of schools in Rhode Island.
This story has been updated to include details from the governor’s press conference. An earlier version of this story included figures from a previous day. It has been updated to include Monday’s figures from the R.I. Department of Health.
