Events:

COVID-19 pandemic

Coverage of the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the resulting pandemic.

Health

RI COVID-19 vaccine update: Shortages, priority criteria, pregnancy, equity

A press briefing from the RI Department of Health (RI DoH) COVID-19 vaccine team late in the afternoon on Wednesday, December 16, sounded like a victory lap: Everything was going to plan, the complicated series of deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine – so far the only one granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the […]

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Health

First prison-associated COVID-19 death in RI

RI experienced its first COVID-19 death associated with the state prison system among either staff or inmates, the Department of Corrections confirmed to Motif. In a statement dated Monday, December 14, Director Patricia A. Coyne-Fague said, “It is with a heavy heart that I must report the loss of Lt. Russell Freeman, who passed away […]

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Health

A Shot in the Arm: COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in RI, starts arriving

Approval was granted this morning at an emergency meeting of the Vaccine Sub-Committee at the RI Department of Health (RI DoH), conducted virtually, to begin administering vaccines against COVID-19. According to Mckenzie Morton who acted as meeting facilitator, the vote was 95% in favor. The supply of vaccine will be severely limited, and at this […]

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Health

RI Health director tests positive for COVID-19, governor in quarantine

“Earlier today [Saturday, December 12], Rhode Island Department of Health [RI DoH] Director Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, tested positive for COVID-19. This was identified through routine testing. She is asymptomatic and will continue working from home. In accordance with Department of Health guidance, Governor Gina Raimondo and several members of her senior leadership team will […]

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Health

Businesses Allowing Customers without Masks Due to Mistake

Readers have told Motif about a number of restaurants and other businesses allowing customers without masks during the COVID-19 pandemic because the operators mistakenly believe state government requires them to do so. We confirmed with the RI Department of Health (DoH) that such businesses are misreading the rules essentially backward: “A business owner is not […]

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Health

How Sick Is the President?: We don’t know, and that’s disturbing

Donald Trump – the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief, the leader of the free world – is hospitalized with a life-threatening medical condition. COVID-19 has killed well over 200,000 Americans, with a case-fatality rate over 3% for those exhibiting symptoms. For patients of similar age, weight and sex as the President, a 74-year-old […]

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Health

Trump has COVID-19 and it’s not “karma” at all

Donald Trump, in his capacity as president, has spent now 10 months ignoring expert public health advice, opposing basic safety measures such as wearing protective face coverings and opposing curtailing risky commercial operations such as dine-in restaurants and bars. On April 3, he criticized the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for recommending […]

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Health

Tardy Tests: K-12 testing delay keeps teacher out of work

Natalie Andrus Fleming is a school psychologist based at the Asa Messer Elementary school in Providence. On Wednesday, September 16, the third day after schools partially reopened in Providence, one of two cities in RI that were not approved for full in-person reopening due to high COVID-19 rates, Fleming said she was directed to stop […]

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Health

Math Behind Group Size Limits in the Pandemic

In RI, during the COVID-19 emergency Gov. Gina Raimondo has limited informal social gatherings to no more than 15 people and in-person school classrooms to stable groups of no more than 30 students. Where do these numbers come from? The governor has described them as “judgment calls,” but she is not just arbitrarily picking numbers. […]

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