Raimondo: Rhode Island still on target for May 9 restart

Gov. Gina Raimondo said Friday she still hopes to lift Rhode Island’s stay-at-home order in about a week, even though the daily number of new coronavirus cases in the state only appears to have reached a plateau and is not yet on the decline.

“If we continue to stay on this path we are on now, it is my intention to let the stay-athome order expire on May 8,” the Democrat said at her daily news briefing.

But she warned that a phased restart of the economy and planned reopening of some state parks beginning the following day is “not a foregone conclusion,” especially if people stop social distancing practices or there is a surge in new cases.

The state Department of Health reported 341 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, about 30 fewer cases than the previous day.

The number of people hospitalized with the disease was up slightly Friday, but the number people in intensive care and on ventilators were both down, which state Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott viewed as good news.

The state also reported 13 new deaths Friday, for a total of 279 fatalities since the pandemic began. The daily death total does not mean all of those fatalities occurred in the previous 24 hours, as it sometimes takes days to confirm a cause of death.

Debt collectors

Debt collectors are not allowed to seize federal stimulus money to settle debts, Raimondo said.

Anyone who has been victimized or harassed by a debt collector should call the attorney general’s office, who could initiate legal action, she said.