Raimondo: R.I. isn’t ready to move onto Phase 4

Updated at 1:53 p.m. on July 29, 2020.

CASES OF COVID-19 increased by 61 on Tuesday. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
CASES OF COVID-19 increased by 61 on Tuesday. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

PROVIDENCE – As Rhode Island experienced a slight increase in new coronavirus cases in the past week, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo said Wednesday the state will not be moving forward to Phase 4, whose executive order on Phase 3 was set to expire on Wednesday.

Instead, the governor said that she will be extending Phase 3 of reopening for an additional 30 days and will be decreasing the number of people allowed at social gatherings from 25 to 15 in both indoor and outdoor settings.

Raimondo said her reasoning for remaining in the third phase is due to the state’s “R value,” or rate of spread, being too high. The R value, which measures the number of people one person will infect with COVID-19, should not go over 1.1, according to Raimondo.

Currently, the governor said the state is seeing a 1.3 or 1.4 rate of spread. Through contact tracing, Raimondo said the recent spike in cases and higher rate of spread measurement is due to social gatherings that are “too large with no mask wearing or social distancing.”

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“We cannot move forward to Phase 4 because of that,” said Raimondo.

“If we cannot get the R value down…. it’s going to be harder to reopen schools.”

Raimondo’s briefing comes as cases of COVID-19 in the state increased by 61, with two more deaths, the R.I. Department of Health said on Wednesday.

“That’s holding steady,” said Raimondo of the 61 new reported cases. However, there were triple digits of new cases reported in five of the last eight days.

After a “deep dive” from the data team at the Department of Health, which examined nearly 4,000 cases, Raimondo said that congregations and social get-togethers are linking as the biggest commonalities for the recent spikes of new cases.

“We’re partying too much. Social gatherings are too large, and folks aren’t wearing their masks,” said Raimondo.

Raimondo said that those between the ages of 20-29 years old are the most to blame for congregations and social gatherings.

Cases of the new coronavirus in Rhode Island total 18,800, a 75-case increase from figures reported on Tuesday, with the additional 14 cases attributable to previous day data revisions. The three-day positive rate is 71. 

The state has reported a total of 1,007 deaths related to COVID-19. 

There are 74 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state, an increase from 68 one day prior. The three-day average of hospitalizations is 72. Of those hospitalized, 12 are in intensive care units and six are on ventilators. 

There were 3,354 tests conducted on Wednesday with a positive rate of 1.8%. To date, there have been 356,185 COVID-19 tests administered in Rhode Island. 

This story was updated with information from the governor’s press conference.

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