PROVIDENCE – In the face of long lines for testing and lengthy waits for results as the state sees record numbers of new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Thursday said the state is moving to quickly ramp up testing and vaccinations.
“We’re going to be making immediate progress,” McKee said at a press briefing. “That’s not to say we haven’t stubbed a toe here, a little bit, on the testing. That clearly has happened. We recognize that. We’re making the immediate adjustments that need to be made. … Our goal is to get back to a 48-hour turnaround time on the PCR tests.”
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McKee and Executive Director for COVID Response Thomas McCarthy said the state is contracting with a second laboratory, based in New Jersey, to help speed up the testing turnaround times, after the state has been processing upwards of 20,000 tests per day, with 25,000 tests collected on Wednesday alone. McCarthy said it’s currently taking four or five days to get results for PCR tests, but the state wants to get that back down to an under two-day wait time. McKee said he’s also working to get a third laboratory contracted to process Rhode Island COVID-19 tests.
McKee announced that he is assigning Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency Director Marc R. Pappas to help scale up and improve testing sites, to get people scheduled for tests more quickly and to address long lines of people who were waiting in the cold outdoors to get tested in Central Falls this week.
McKee also said he’s instructing state testing sites to operate on New Year’s Day, when they were originally expected to be closed for the holiday. And the governor said he’s working with the R.I. National Guard to reestablish testing and vaccination operations at the Rhode Island Convention Center as soon as Jan. 10.
Aside from testing, R.I. Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said the state is adopting recently revised U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, shortening the isolation period for someone who is COVID-19 positive from 10 days to five days, “provided that that person has no symptoms” and will wear a mask for five additional days.
For those who have not been tested positive for COVID-19 but have been in close contact with someone who is infected, Alexander-Scott said “you do not need to quarantine if you are asymptomatic” and vaccinated with a booster shot if eligible.
“People in this situation should wear a mask around other people for the full 10 days and get tested on Day 5 if possible,” she said, “which is why we’re doing everything we can to continue to ensure that the testing capacity that was already top of the line nationwide is going to expand even further.”
During the press conference, McKee also addressed concerns he’s hearing from Rhode Island hospitals that are struggling with staffing problems, including price “gouging” for temporary labor offered by traveling nurses agencies used to fill in the gaps. McKee shared one example he heard from Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, which was offered a temporary nurse on one day at $45 per hour, before the price was ramped up to $195 per hour the next day amid staffing shortages. McKee said he spoke to U.S. Labor Secretary Marty J. Walsh about this, and wants it addressed by the White House and Congress.
“We wouldn’t allow gouging during a crisis on gasoline prices, or gouging on a milk crisis, so why are we allowing this gouging that’s going on right now in terms of workers?” McKee said.
The Rhode Island governor also pushed back against criticism from within the health care industry that he’s not doing enough to help address staffing shortages.
“Anyone who thinks there is an easy solution to this challenge is not paying attention,” McKee said.
McKee on Dec. 21 questioned whether bringing in the R.I. National Guard to assist hospitals would make sense – given that many health care workers who volunteer for the National Guard are already working in the health care industry. On Thursday the governor said he’s now speaking with Maj. Gen. Christopher P. Callahan about nonmedical roles that the military branch could play at local hospitals.
“I want to thank again the Guard and Gen. Callahan for their continued efforts to explore how to make this work effectively for the hospitals and their needs,” he said.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.
