PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Sunday reported a third COVID-19-related death in the state and 55 new positive cases, for a total of 294. Thirty-five people with the virus are hospitalized in the state.
“This virus is coming fast, and we can not outrun it,” she said, noting the jump in new cases is a sign the state is “starting to go up the curve at a pretty fast clip.
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“It is going to get worse,” she said, adding that is what the state has been planning for.
She announced that all child care licenses in the state would be suspended until at least April 4. She’ll continue to review the health risks week by week.
“When the situation changes, I need to change,” she said. “I don’t think it is safe for child care centers to stay open.”
R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said the state will work with all nonessential businesses that have been ordered to close physical operations on Monday to continue to sell online and through curbside pickup.
He said individual businesses should contact the R.I. Department of Business Regulation to ensure their plan to continue limited operations meets the state’s temporary emergency regulations to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Pryor said businesses such as bookstores, for example, could still conduct business through curbside pickups. He added others businesses, such as appliance stores and car dealerships, can meet with customers by individual appointments.
“We can’t start to see crowds forming,” he said, adding Rhode Island is looking to have the most “pro-commerce version of our policy [to slow the spread of the virus] as possible.”
He said information on restrictions on business operations can be found on www.commerceri.com.
Raimondo said the state’s efforts to keep as many businesses operating on at least a limited basis as possible is a preview of how she will seek to ramp up their operations when health officials believe it is safe to do so.
There “won’t be an on-off switch,” she said, but instead a series of new regulations, by industry, to help get the economy back on track.
Along with steadily more restrictive state orders on crowd sizes and business operations, local municipalities have issued their own orders that sometimes go beyond state requirements.
East Providence on March 27 was the latest to do so, announcing it is shutting down city-owned parks, fields, playgrounds and other recreational spaces.
The immediate closures lasts through at least April 17, according to the executive order signed by Mayor Bob DaSilva and posted on the city’s Facebook page. Tennis and basketball courts and skate parks are also closed.
The mayor’s office did not immediately return inquiries for comment on Sunday. City police were seen asking local residents to leave various public recreation spaces throughout the weekend, according to posts on social media.
(ADDS final four paragraphs with East Providence restrictions.)
Staff writer Nancy Lavin contributed to this report.
