COVID-19 pandemic

Much to the apparent surprise of RI Department of Health (RI DoH) Director Dr Nicole Alexander-Scott, who was caught unaware on live television at her press conference at 1pm on Friday, January 28 – “RI Health Director Defends Vaccine Rollout”, Jan 28, by Michael Bilow – the City of Warwick opened a web page at […]

On Friday, January 28, the regular weekly COVID-19 press conference conducted by Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the RI Department of Health (RI DoH), was unusually chaotic. In prepared remarks that were uncharacteristically defensive for the normally diplomatic Alexander-Scott, she avoided mentioning. but tacitly addressed, recent criticism in the media for what is widely seen […]

How to define eligibility for priority groups in Phase 2 of the state COVID-19 vaccination program was the subject of the regular weekly meeting of the Vaccine Sub-Committee at the RI Department of Health (DoH) on Friday, January 22. The goal is to have this clearly settled by the time Phase 2 is expected to […]

“We’ve crossed the 30,000 doses mark… as of 9am,” said Dr. Philip Chan of the RI Department of Health (DoH) in a press briefing late in the afternoon on Friday, January 8. “This morning, 31,541 doses have been administered and 1,798 people were fully immunized, meaning they received their second and final dose of the […]

A new treatment for COVID-19 patients is available in RI to anyone who tests positive and is age 65 or older, or has an underlying health condition: a one-shot infusion of monoclonal antibodies. It is most effective when administered as soon as possible after testing positive, and it is hoped that it can reduce severity […]

President Donald Trump signed the combined $900 billion pandemic relief bill and $1.4 trillion omnibus funding bill around 8pm on Sunday, December 27, after almost a week of issuing implied threats that he might not do so. The delay already allowed critical unemployment insurance (UI) provisions to lapse the prior day, although the bill provides […]

A second inmate has died from COVID-19 at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI), according to a statement from the RI Department of Corrections (DoC) on the afternoon of Friday, December 25. Motif previously reported the first inmate death on Saturday, December 19, and the first staff death on Monday, December 14. “The inmate requested ‘Comfort […]

The Moderna vaccine against COVID-19 was unanimously approved for use in RI this morning at an emergency meeting of the RI Department of Health (DoH) Vaccine Sub-Committee, following the issuance by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) on Friday, December 18. Doses are expected to begin arriving in […]

The first inmate death due to COVID-19 at the RI Adult Correctional Institution (ACI) was confirmed today to Motif by the Department of Corrections (DoC), having occurred on Saturday, December 19. The deceased was a 66-year-old male “who had other complicating co-morbidities that likely contributed to his death [and] was at Rhode Island Hospital being […]