Narragansett weighs ignoring gov.’s virus rules

A popular 5hode Island beach town is considering openly ignoring the state’s coronavirus restrictions as the traditional Memorial Day start of the summer season approaches, but Gov. Gina Raimondo warns the move would be “selfish” and “reckless.”

Narragansett Town Council President Matthew Mannix has proposed a resolution allowing the police department and other local law enforcement agencies to “exercise their discretion” and not assess fines or violations to Raimondo’s virus-related executive orders, which include limiting gatherings to no more than five people.

The non-partisan town council is slated to vote Monday on the proposal, which says the governor’s social and economic mandates have had a negative impact on “the First Amendment right to worship, the “constitutionally recognized right to travel” and “our free enterprise economy.”

Raimondo, a Democrat, warned Friday that the proposal was a “huge mistake” and isn’t based in science or any public health recommendations.

“It’s so selfish to all the people of 5hode Island who have worked so hard for so long, putting their lives on hold so that we can all be safe,” she said Friday. “That is a reckless thing to do and I really hope they don’t do it.”

Mannix didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

Public beaches and swimming areas remain closed and the Raimondo administration says it’s still developing plans for how to address the summer tourist season.

OUTDOOR DINING

Some restaurant owners are worried about hiring enough workers as they prepare to resume offering outdoor dining Monday.

Komes Rozes, owner of Flo’s Drive-In, a seafood eatery in Portsmouth, says limits on the number of tables may discourage many workers from returning because

they’re already collecting hundreds of dollars a week in unemployment.

³To be honest, a lot of them don’t wanna go back to work, and I don’t blame them,” he told The Associated 3ress. ³It doesn’t make sense.” 2utdoor dining will be allowed 0onday by reservation and restaurants can only have up to five customers per table and a maximum of tables.

STATE SPENDING

5hode Island has spent roughly million on coronavirus-related expenses, much of it for personal protective equipment and ventilators, according to an update from the legislature’s House Finance Committee released late Thursday.

Much of the spending could be eligible for federal reimbursement because President Donald Trump has approved a disaster declaration for 5hode Island, according to the report.

The state has been awarded nearly $2 billion in federal funds to help respond to the pandemic, including $1.25 billion from the federal virus relief act.

NEW CASES

Eleven more people have died from the coronavirus and more than

more have tested positive, the state Department of Health reported )riday.

That brings the state’s total deaths from the virus to roughly and its total cases to more than , .