Start of School Delayed Two Weeks: A summary of the governor’s August 11 press conference

Governor Gina Raimondo, RIDE Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green and DOH Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott gave the COVID-19 press briefing today at 1pm.

Today’s data is as follows. DOH reports 74 new cases of the coronavirus. Eighty-nine people are hospitalized for reasons related to the virus; nine of those people are in the ICU, and three people are on ventilators. “The number of cases is about the same as last week,” said Dr. Alexander-Scott today. “But that’s still higher than we want them to be. Hospitalizations are higher than we want them to be.” She stressed the need for people listening or watching today’s press conference to spread the word of the announcements. DOH also reports two additional deaths today; both people were in their 60s.

Once again schools were the hot topic of announcements today. Governor Raimondo earlier this week pushed back the start date for school in Rhode Island by two weeks. The school year is scheduled to start on September 14 and end on June 25. Teachers will gain an additional three days of professional development starting September 9, giving students in Rhode Island at least 177 days of school.

The governor stated today she was delaying school so students and teachers could be as safe as possible. Her decisions on what level that districts can reopen will be handed down on August 31. Districts across the state have numerous issues to deal with, ranging from transportation to operational plans to testing. An expert team composed of members from RIDOT, RIPTA and the RI National Guard, among others, would meet to see what level of help vis a vis transportation they can provide school districts. Most students get to school on a bus, and can’t be expected to adhere to COVID control protocols. “Every town in America is struggling with this,” said Raimondo. “There’s not a lot of extra buses right now.”

During questions, the governor was asked about a perceived double standard between schools and large catered events and the social gathering limit of 15. “A school environment, where people are primarily sitting in a classroom with a seating chart, or in a cafeteria with a seating chart wearing a mask, is a relatively controlled environment,” said Raimondo. She noted that restaurants were controlled environments along the same lines, and that the problem they were having with COVID control was social gatherings above the limits.

“People will die, people will lose their jobs, kids will be unable to go to school if no one follows the rules,” said the governor. She announced no changes to current state rules and regulations today. Again, Raimondo asked people write down names of all the people they were in contact with at the end of every day, and to keep that limited to the same 15 people.

Two weeks ago, according to Dr. Alexander-Scott and the governor, the average turnaround time for COVID test results was seven days. This week, according to the governor, that turnaround time has gone down to four days. That time is still longer than the governor’s goal of a turnaround time of 48 to 72 hours, a crucial part of Raimondo’s reopening strategy. She stressed the need today for rapid testing; if a student, teacher or staff member falls sick in the middle of the day, it’s imperative the school know if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19. The state announced today they’ve acquired eight rapid testing machines to process COVID tests, giving them a capacity of 700 tests per day. The governor wants to increase that capacity.

Commissioner Infante-Green confirmed today that an RFP had been sent out for distance learning. RIDE is looking into bringing outside certified teachers to help with distance learning and any virtual academies school districts announced students could opt-in. Warwick School Committee last night voted to start their school year entirely online through distance learning. Governor Raimondo said she was disappointed to hear that news, and noted that the Warwick School Department did not hand in a plan for full in-person learning. Warwick’s plan has students on an A/B hybrid schedule of distance learning and in-person instruction. The governor said she was looking into possible funding and/or legal options as a response to Warwick, but stressed the need to bring everyone to the table to find a solution.

Governor Raimondo repeated today her golden rule: “Do not go out of your house if you are sick.” She said today around half the positive COVID tests recently had people going to work sick. She reminded employers they were required by law to provide two weeks paid sick time to sick workers. If an employer is not complying, the governor said to call her office or DLT. “There’s a high percentage of folks who went to work or someplace when they were sick,” said the governor. They’ve seen outbreaks in workplaces and even in carpools.

The governor also highlighted today the importance of keeping a contact tracing notebook and cooperating with contact tracers. “When we started this, almost everyone answered the phone and gave us the information we asked for,” said Raimondo. “That’s much less true now.” She said people’s personal health information was protected by the strictest HIPAA privacy laws. 

Dr. Alexander-Scott announced today that the state’s health equity zones (HEZ) have distributed over a million masks to communities hardest hit by the coronavirus. More than $2 million has been invested in similar urban core communities. She credited the already existing infrastructure of the HEZs to be crucial to providing this aid. HEZ has been a landmark plank in Dr. Scott’s tenure at DOH.

Lastly, Governor Raimondo invited everyone to watch her live online discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci tomorrow on her Facebook page at 3pm.The two will discuss, among other things, how to reopen schools safely.