PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for houses of worship to open on May 30 but said they will be limited to a maximum of 25% of overall capacity.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence announced ahead of Raimondo’s daily press briefing that public Masses will resume on May 30, with a list of guidelines that parishes are expected to follow.
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The guidelines that the Diocese announced require parishioners to sanitize their hands immediately after entering churches, masks must be worn at all times other than receiving Holy Communion, singing will be limited, pews will be sectioned off in order to maintain social distancing between parishioners and churches will be sanitized after every Mass.
The governor said a list of official guidelines for places of worships will be uploaded on the ReopeningRI.com website later this week.
“The reopening of our churches for public worship, even with the necessary restrictions, is a moment of grace for all of us, said Bishop Thomas Tobin in a statement.
All public Masses and liturgical services in the Diocese of Providence have been suspended since March 17. However, some churches had remained open at specific times for personal prayer and confession while following social distancing directives, according to the Diocese.
Raimondo advised to not go to a place of worship if sick and to continue to follow health guidelines.
“At the end of the day, I am trusting the people of Rhode Island to do the right thing,” said Raimondo.
The governor said that more relaxed restrictions will be put into place for Phase II of reopening the state and that parts of that plan will be announced during her daily briefing on Friday. Until then, she encouraged residents to download the new Crush COVID RI app, which she announced Tuesday to help Rhode Islanders keep an instant log of places they have visited. Within the first 24 hours, she said more than 10,000 residents, or about 1% of the population, downloaded the app.
Cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island rose by 209, to a total of 13,356, the R.I. Department of Health said Wednesday.
There were six new deaths reported due to the virus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 538. Of these new deaths, two people were in their 80s and four people were in their 90s, according to R.I. Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott.
This is the second day in a row where the number of patients in the hospital has increased. Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients totaled 257 in the state, an increase from 247 a day earlier. Of those hospitalized, 58 were in intensive care units, marking a one-patient decline from the day before, with 45 patients on ventilators, an increase of one from a day earlier.
The state has seen 1,030 COVID-19-related hospital discharges to date, a seven-patient increase day to day.
The Governor advised that despite this upcoming holiday weekend, social gatherings are limited to five people.
“If you don’t do that, two or three weeks from now, we are going to see a spike in hospitalizations,” said Raimondo, announcing that the annual Memorial Day ceremony will still take place at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Exeter, R.I., but will primarily virtual and televised.
The state conducted 3,086 tests Tuesday, bringing the state total to 120,528.
This story has been updated to include details from the governor’s press conference.
