Raimondo says schools still on track for in-person fall
WOONSOCKET ± Gov. Gina Raimondo appears more resolved than ever about getting as many kids back to school for full in-person learning as possible by Sept. 14.
That was a key takeaway from Raimondo’s weekly briefing on the COVID-1 pandemic Wednesday as she attempted to reassure parents and teachers that protocols are in place to contain expected illnesses or outbreaks in public schools.
Raimondo allowed that infection rates may be too high in some communities to permit full in-person learning and they may have to go with a hybrid model. Central Falls, for example, has a 1 percent positivity rate ± the highest in the state and far higher than the statewide average of about 3 percent.
Pawtucket isn’t far behind, with 11 percent, and in Woonsocket, it’s 10 percent.
But Raimondo borrowed from Dr. Anthony Fauci to make it plain that she’s sticking with the goal of reopening schools for full in-person learning wherever it’s safe. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and perhaps the most oft-quoted source on COVID-1 in the nation, appeared with Raimondo in a livestream event last week to provide what amounted to the Dr. Fauci seal of approval for reopening schools in Rhode Island, citing a favorably low infection rate.
“We all need to try to the best of our ability, push ourselves as much as possible, to get as many kids back in school as possible,” Raimondo said. “That is our philosophy. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect. I’m not saying every kid is going to be able to or want to go back to school.”
Most districts are allowing families to opt for an all-distance learning plan this fall, no questions asked, no matter what else might be happening in the classroom.
In a tone of impassioned urgency, however, Raimondo, looking back on the state’s record of building field hospitals, testing capacity and a robust platoon of contact tracing personnel at the Rhode Island Department of Health, insisted “we’re capable of doing great things... when we rise to the occasion