Governor addresses financial toll, as well as aid
210 new cases of virus reported; total deaths in state at 418
WOONSOCKET — Acknowledging the financial struggles many Rhode Islanders are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gina Raimondo announced a series of initiatives Saturday designed to provide relief on utility bills, lessen the burden of student loans and stock the pantries of the food insecure.
The Public Utilities Commission has voted to extend its order prohibiting all regulated utilities from shutting off service to their customers or sending overdue balances to collection agencies through May 31, she said.
Raimondo also revealed a new partnership with Summer, a company that will steer borrowers, free of charge, to assistance in reducing their monthly student loan debt if their income has taken a hit due to COVID-19; and a third effort to begin providing up 4,000 boxes of fresh food per week to needy families by the end of the summer.
Farm Fresh Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Food Bank will assemble and distribute the boxes with funds included in the CARES Act that the state’s congressional delegation fought for, Raimondo said.
“This has been a tough week,” Raimondo said, adopting a reassuring tone. “The longer this crisis goes on the harder it is. I want to you know we’re going to get through it.”
The initiatives were outlined as Raimondo and Health Director Nicole Alexander Scott delivered a so-so update on the last data for sickness and mortality resulting from COVID-19 – 210 new positive cases and 19 more fatalities, which brings
the total number of deaths to 418. The figures bring the total number of positive cases the state has recorded since roughly March 1 to 10,989, more than 10 percent of all who have been tested.
Raimondo said the data paints a picture of continued stability for the pace of the infection’s spread, as well as a slight decline in the hospitalization rate. There were 292 people hospitalized on Saturday, including 77 in intensive care units and 56 on ventilators.
Speaking on the first day of what’s been dubbed Phase 1 of the reopening of the economy, Raimondo said the figures were positive news, but not an indication that the infection rate is on the backside of the plateau. That is why, she said, she continues to counsel for an incremental, slow resumption of economic activity.
“We’re in a stable place, we’re coming out of a stayat-home order...,” Raimondo said. “But it’s a tentative place. I only want to reopen this economy once. I don’t want to do it in fits and starts – open, close. The way do this is slowly, cautiously and following the rules.”
Raimondo said she’s confident the state has built up its testing capacity and healthcare infrastructure enough to withstand potential outbreaks of the disease, which she said are all but inevitable.
For an illustration, the governor needed to look no further than the Rhode Island Department of Health, where eight workers have tested positive for COVID-19, Alexander Scott disclosed. One RIDOH official who was tested was
Dr. James McDonald, chief administrative officer of the agency and a familiar face on the daily, live-streamed briefings.
It was McDonald – not Alexander Scott – who was due to pull briefing duty for yesterday’s installment. His tests have so far shown that he is not infected with COVID-19, but Alexander Scott has stressed that tests on asymptomatic individuals often yield negative results and she made it plain that his absence was the result of the outbreak at the Cannon Building, opposite the State House.
She said the site would undergo a deep cleaning and that the outbreak would not affect RIDOH’s ability to respond to the crisis.
Such outbreaks demonstrate the enormous risk of reopening the economy too quickly, the governor said. “We could go backwards,” which is why, she added, “I’m asking you to go slowly and follow the rules.”
Raimondo and Alexander Scott both sought to emphasize the advice on the eve of Mother’s Day. As much as many are eager to gather with their mother today, now is not a wise time to hold big get-togethers, they said.
“Hopefully some people can find some normalcy and joy in having a phone call with family or in connecting with family remotely in some other creative way,” Alexander Scott said. “That’s the way we can all serve to keep each other safe, especially the mothers and mother figures in our lives.”
Nursing home visits have been off limits for nearly two months, but the health director said that not only should family members refrain from attempting to enter a nursing home to visit their mother – they shouldn’t go on the grounds to wave through a window. At this particular moment, she said, such behavior might only add to the stress and confusion that’s occurring within many congregate care centers, which have become epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Family members should also avoid dropping off packages or having them delivered, including cardboard and flowers. If they are received by a nursing facility, cardboard packages will be withheld from intended recipients for at least 24 hours just in case they are infected with COVID-19.
Public gatherings are limited to no more than five people, and the directive ought to be followed, even if it’s Mothers Day, Raimondo said.
“Please no big gatherings,” she said. “This year we’ll find different ways to show mom we love her. We don’t want to be gathering 10, 15, 20 people at a time.”