Dr James McDonald, medical director of the RI Department of Health (RIDOH) since Feb 2012, has been named interim director following the resignation of Director Dr Nicole Alexander-Scott on Jan 13 and of Deputy Director Tom McCarthy on Jan 18, both resignations effective Feb 1, according to a statement issued this morning by the office […]
Every residential address in the US can order four rapid antigen test (RAT) kits for free, expected to be delivered in late January, through an official government web page: covidtests.gov (which currently redirects to a site operated by the US Postal Service special.usps.com/testkits). Persons need enter only their name and shipping address to place a […]
Dr Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, who has served as director of the RI Department of Health (RIDOH) since 2015 and spearheaded the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning, has resigned effective two weeks from today, according to a statement from Gov. Daniel McKee, and the governor “regretfully accepted.” She will continue in […]
At time of writing, RI is in bad shape for COVID-19, with a surge of cases unprecedented over the course of the entire pandemic. RI is weeks behind where it could have been if it had taken into account clear warning signs. At a Woonsocket press conference with Gov. Daniel McKee and others on Dec […]
Lifespan and Care New England, the two biggest healthcare networks in RI, have signed an agreement stating their intent to merge. They’ve submitted a letter of intent and application to the Attorney General’s office – the AG, Federal Trade Commission and RIDOH still need to sign off on the project and will be assessing the […]
When Melissa DeLuca was in high school in the 1980s, she was banned from the field hockey team because she was gay – an experience that now fuels her unique exercise program for LGBTQ+ youth. Every-Bodies Fitness is the non-profit DeLuca formed in 2019 to make the experience of exercising and staying healthy inclusive. She […]
For at least the last 25 years, Rhode Island has relied on the medical-industrial complex to serve as an economic engine. The quest for patentable, scalable cures for the diseases of industrialism has taken up a huge amount of the energy and resources devoted to economic development in RI. There are deep-seated problems with this […]
On a cold December morning, Tara Morris opened her hot power yoga class with the words, “Today’s my mom’s birthday; she would’ve been 81.” Morris’ mother Maryann passed away in September 2020 after battling Parkinson’s for 27 years. “It was so brutal,” says Morris. “So fucking brutal to watch a big, strong woman lose all […]
Major changes were authorized this morning to increase access to booster shots for the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are three main changes: (1) the time between completion of the primary vaccine series until eligible for a booster shot has been reduced to five months from the […]
(App download links at end of article.) RI has updated and renamed its “401Health” app (previously “Crush COVID RI”) for Google Android and Apple iOS, the office of Gov. Daniel McKee announced today. The main purpose of the update is to add support for displaying the user’s vaccination record via a securely trusted QR code, […]