R.I. reaches out to those who cannot leave home

(AP) — As part of Providence its plan to get the coronavirus vaccine to residents who cannot leave their homes, Rhode Island health officials on Friday launched a website to gather information about the housebound.

The site does not allow people to sign up for a vaccination appointment — it is simply to collect information for planning purposes, the state Department of Health said in a statement.

The information in most cases is already being provided by cities and towns and home health agencies, but the state wants to make sure everyone limited to their homes is covered.

Health care providers or family members can help fill out the form, the agency said.

The state is currently vaccinating residents 75 and older, and starting Monday, people 65 and older will be eligible to make vaccination appointments.

Also, the number of retail pharmacies in the state offering the vaccine will increase significantly by the end of next week, the agency said. CVS should be vaccinating at 14 locations, up from the current seven, while Walgreens should be vaccinating at 24 locations, up from the current 15.

The federal government is doubling the amount of doses going to CVS next week. CVS was receiving roughly 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine per week, but in addition to those doses, CVS will be receiving an additional 3,500 doses of Pfizer per week, the agency said.

Nearly 127,000 people have received a vaccine first dose in Rhode Island, while 57,000 people have been fully vaccinated, according to health department data released Friday.

Hospitalizations going down

The Rhode Island Department of Health on Friday reported 289 new confirmed coronavirus cases, nine more virus-related deaths and a daily positivity rate of 1.7%.

The number of hospitalizations had dropped to 177 as of Wednesday, the lowest single-day total since Oct. 25.

There have now been more than 123,000 confirmed cases and 2,376 fatalities in the state.

The latest seven-day average positivity rate in Rhode Island is 2.1%. State health departments are calculating positivity rate differently across the country, but for Rhode Island the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test encounters using data from The COVID Tracking Project.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Rhode Island has now dropped from about 505 on Feb. 4 to 354 on Thursday, according to the tracking project.

The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Rhode Island has risen over the past two weeks to more than 13 per day, making the state one of only a handful where the death rate is rising.

Vaccinations postponed

Coronavirus vaccine appointments scheduled for Friday at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Newport campus have been postponed a day because of snow.

Newport Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano said the Friday cancellations were “due to the inclement weather concerns,” The Newport Daily News reported.

The vaccination site at CCRI is a collaboration between the city and Middletown.

“If you had an approved vaccination appointment, please show up Saturday, Feb. 20, at the CCRI campus instead at the same scheduled time,” said an announcement on Middletown’s website.