PROVIDENCE – COVID-19 cases in Rhode Island have climbed to 657, according to the R.I. Department of Health, which reported another 91 cases on Thursday.
Two more people have died, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 12.
Both people were women, one of whom was in her 80s, and the other in her 90s.
So far, 4,412 Rhode Islanders have tested negative for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Seventy-two people are now hospitalized, up from 60 on Wednesday, and 14 are in intensive care.
Testing is now available to any state resident who has symptoms of the coronavirus and who has received an order for a test from a doctor.
Tests were previously restricted to health care workers, residents of nursing homes, hospital patients and others with symptoms of the virus who’d been exposed to someone who was also infected.
With the arrival of supplies and the set-up of additional testing sites at the University of Rhode Island, the Community College of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo says she wants to see 1,000 tests done daily.
Appointments are necessary to receive a test, a reminder often repeated by Raimondo and Rhode Island Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott during daily press briefings.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. She can be reached at graham@pbn.com.
