PROVIDENCE – Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island increased by 15,214 from Dec. 30 through Monday, with 30 new deaths, the R.I. Department of Health said Tuesday.
Dec. 30 marked the highest daily case count for the Ocean State thus far in the pandemic, recording 4,237 new cases that day. Another 4,141 new cases were reported to the state on Monday.
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Hospitalizations of COVID-19 total 382, an increase from 325 reported on Dec. 30. Of those hospitalized, 48 are in intensive care units and 33 are on ventilators.
There have been 2,133 new cases per 100,000 Rhode Island residents in the previous seven days, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as “high transmission.”
By comparison, there were 4,556 new cases identified from Dec. 30, 2020, through Jan. 3, 2021, less than one-third of what the current timeframe shows for cases. The transmission rate on Jan. 3, 2021, was 667.5 cases per 100,000 residents.
While new cases of COVID-19 and the transmission rate are currently higher than this time last year, hospitalizations are not. There were 456 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Jan. 3, 2021, of which 61 were in the ICU and 42 were on ventilators.
To date, there have been 809,410 individuals fully vaccinated in the state and 1.99 million total COVID-19 vaccines doses administered.
Confirmed cases in the state total 247,324, an increase of 16,228 from figures reported Dec. 30, accounting for the day-to-day increases as well as data revisions for previous days.
Deaths due to the virus in Rhode Island now total 3,096.
There were 23,867 tests processed on Monday with a positive rate of 17.4%. There have been 6.7 million tests administered in the state.
The department also released its three weekly COVID-19 metrics, showing rises in all categories.
- The positive rate was 16.7% last week, up from 7.1% from one week prior.
- New hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients in the state totaled 347, a rise from 263 one week prior.
- New cases per 100,000 residents totaled 1,949 last week, a rise from 793 one week prior.
In a tweet Tuesday, Gov. Daniel J. McKee announced that the state has remobilized 180 R.I. National Guard members to address the current virus surge. The National Guard, McKee said, is supporting vaccination and testing throughout Rhode Island, including in Central Falls.
McKee also tweeted that he toured the Rhode Island Hospital emergency department to meet with health workers on the front lines there. His team, he said, is finalizing operational plans for the National Guard to provide support to hospitals in cooperation with the facility’s leadership.
(UPDATE: ADDS last two paragraphs with information about Gov. Daniel J. McKee mobilizing the R.I. National Guard to address the current virus surge.)
