PROVIDENCE – As Rhode Island prepares to reach a sober milestone March 1 – the one-year anniversary of the first confirmed infection of a resident with the new coronavirus – state officials on Thursday reflected on the horrific year that transpired.
Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the R.I. Department of Health, addressed the anniversary as part of her public briefing Thursday, personally thanking all the health care workers who have toiled through the pandemic.
“This has been a year of loss and of testing our strength,” Scott said.
Since the first patient was diagnosed on March 1, 2020, more than 125,000 people in Rhode Island have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. And 2,496 people have died of it. Infections and hospitalizations have been decreasing over the past two months, but officials remain worried that another surge might start if more infectious variants take hold in the state.
Lt. Gov. Daniel J. McKee, who is expected to succeed Gov. Gina M. Raimondo soon, described the past year as hellacious. He compared the virus to an enemy, making a reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“We had our first case on March 1 last year and it’s been a living hell,” McKee said. “We’re going to make it through, ” he added.
The virus, scientists say, will start to fade once “herd immunity” is reached, the point at which the virus fails to find new hosts because enough people have been vaccinated against it or have been infected by the virus already.
“At some point in time, we are going to have more vaccine than we need and we’re going to have to do everything we can to encourage people to take that vaccine,” said McKee.
In the past year, two vaccines have received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, after they were found to be both safe and effective against the virus. The Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. vaccines, which are administered in two doses, are now arriving in Rhode Island weekly. Residents are being vaccinated at a rate of 6,600 doses per day.
There is now anticipation that a third vaccine, one that requires only one shot, will be approved within days. That vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, could result in Rhode Island receiving an initial allotment of 9,000 doses.
“We could conceivably start administering this vaccine in two weeks or so,” Alexander-Scott said.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
