PROVIDENCE – Cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island totaled 3,529 as of Wednesday afternoon, an increase of 278 cases from the day before, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo said at her daily press briefing.
Also, seven people have died due to COVID-19 since the governor’s briefing Tuesday, bringing the state total to 87.
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Raimondo said 229 are currently hospitalized due to the virus, with 54 in intensive care units and 44 on ventilators. The state has seen 168 discharges of hospitalized COVID-19 cases to date. Hospitalizations totaled 213 Tuesday afternoon, and more than 6,000 people in the state are in quarantine.
Six of the seven people who have died since Tuesday were residents of nursing homes. Those who died ranged in age from their 80s to older than 100, said R.I. Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott.
“Nursing homes and other congregant care settings remain very challenging for us in Rhode Island and [are] a top priority for us to address,” she said.
A number of measures to try to control the spread of the virus at such facilities have been instituted by the Health Department, including infection control protocols, strategic testing, grouping people with COVID-19 separately from other residents and assigning a single staff member to care for infected residents.
Overall, COVID-19 tests conducted by the state totaled 25,897 as of Wednesday, with 22,368 negative tests.
Health officials have partnered with CVS Health Corp. at its testing site at Twin River Casino Hotel by designating several hundred slots daily for health care workers employed by nursing or group homes, Raimondo said.
The governor, who had said the previous day that hospitals in the state are not facing a shortage of personal protective gear front-line health care workers, revisited the topic on Wednesday after her answer sparked an outcry from dozens of doctors.
The amount of available protective gear is “enough for now,” but isn’t enough to last for up to several weeks, she said.
“We’re getting more masks… we’re struggling to get more gowns… It is a fight, it is a continual global fight,” Raimondo said. “Do I think if you’re a doctor or nurse or CNA that you’re all set? No.”
Efforts are being made to ensure enough gear is on hand to last through an expected surge of COVID-19 patients, Alexander-Scott said.
“We have a very strong team here that is making sure Rhode Island has the personal protective equipment it needs to make sure our health care workers are safe,” she said.
Health care workers and first responders concerned about the potential of bringing the virus home to their families now have a couple of options thanks to the state, Raimondo said. Officials have asked colleges and universities about using dormitories to provide free temporary housing, and rihavens.com, an online platform, was created to connect front-line workers with hotels offering rooms at a reduced rate.
The Wyndham Providence Airport hotel has also reserved more than 200 beds for homeless people to stay during the health crisis, Raimondo said. More than 50 people have already made use of the program.
This story has been updated to include more details from the governor’s press conference.
