NO QUICK FIX
Raimondo says keep your distance as virus labeled a global pandemic
PROVIDENCE — In a significant but still voluntary move to address the threat of coronavirus illness, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Wednesday announced R.I. Department of Health guidelines for social distancing limiting large public gatherings to less than 250 people for the next two weeks.
While offered to the organizers and participants of such gatherings, sport events, or meetings for their consideration, the guidelines were expected to result in a number of cancellations or postponements of events around the state including school sports and public functions already scheduled.
Raimondo, announcing the recommendations with Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director the state Department of Health at a press conference at the Department of Administration, said they represent “radical change” in how people will live in the coming weeks.
The recommendations to avoid close personnel contact with others in crowds comes as the state now has five confirmed cases of coronavirus among its residents and “hundreds of people in quarantine” while testing of others continues, according to Raimondo.
“Our approach thus far has been to be very aggressive and swift. I want to take aggressive swift action so that we can contain the virus,” Raimondo said.
The state’ efforts to date, Raimondo said. “have allowed us to get to a place where we only have five Rhode Islanders who have tested
positive for corona. The number one goal right now is containment,” she said.
“We are operating on that principal, every decision we are making is with the goal of containing the spread,” Raimondo said.
“Every decision that is made requires judgment and balance. We understand that people have to live their lives and business has to continue,” she said.
“However, we only have one chance to contain this. This is our one shot to contain it. So the measures that I am about to role out, Dr. Alexander-Scott, are about to roll out are aggressive,” Raimondo said.
“They are calling for radical change in the way we live our lives for a period of time and the way that we do business. We believe that is what is necessary in order to change behavior, so we get this right and we can contain the further spread of coronavirus,” the governor said.
Raimondo said the administration has been frequently asked whether events should be canceled or how big an event “is too big to hold.
“So after a great deal of thought consulting with experts, consulting with the CDC, we are here today to offer some specific guidance as it relates to structured organized events.
Raimondo said she wished to emphasize that the state is only providing “guidance and that every decision that every one of us makes, every business, every school, every church, every organization, has to exercise a certain amount of judgment.”
Raimondo said she has a gold standard of advice for events which includes:
“No. 1, nobody who was feeling sick would be out. That is absolutely vital and I am asking every single Rhode Islander to stay home if you are sick, if you are a little bit sick, if you have a low grade fever, a little bit of aches and pains, please stay home,” Raimondo said.
“Be a hero, if you stay home you will be helping every other Rhode Islander. So we don’t want to have folks who are symptomatic out at events of any kind. We all want to be avoiding close contact. The rule which the doctor will go into is six feet, broad arm’s length of contact, six feet,” Raimondo said of the ideal amount of separation a person should try to maintain from someone else.
Additionally, she said “cover your mouth if you cough or sneeze. We all know it. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. Clean surfaces daily. This is what we all need to be doing. This is a moment,” Raimondo said.
“So often I hear “Governor, what can I do to help, what you can do help is stay home if you are sick,” Raimondo said.
In keeping with the “gold standard” Raimondo said she was also going to lay out some specific guidelines.
“I am now calling on all Rhode Islanders to not attend or organize, organized events of 250 people or more for the next two weeks. That is a guideline that we are asking all Rhode Islanders to follow. Do not attend or organize events 250 people or more,” the Governor said.
“We’re defining an event as an organized occasion where people will be in close proximity for an extended period of time,” she said.
The recommendation covers sporting events, spectator events, and parades, Raimondo said.
The recommendation would also address this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Newport, which has been debated by the city leaders and its supporters there as to whether it should go on. Raimondo, when asked later about the parade, said she hoped it would not be held.
The recommendation for no events of 250 people or more was in line with guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for areas of minimal to moderate community transmission, according to Raimondo.
“Which is where we are now. Rhode Island is fortunately in a place of minimal to moderate community transmission. We would like to stay in that place for as long as possible, which is why we are putting out this guidance of events, 250 people or more,” Raimondo said.
“I want to be clear again that this is a guideline. This is a guideline and we all have to exercise judgment. The nature of the gathering matters,” she said.
A gathering in a more controlled environment would be different from an environment which is less controlled, she noted, as in events of any size “where folks are able to be several few apart, where everybody who’s entering the event is able to be verbally screened such that folks who are sick are screened out.
“Those events, where those precautions can be taken are a little bit less concerning,” she added.
Large gatherings, “where people are close together, there is no ability to find space, there is no ability to have regular cleaning, there is no ability to screen out folks who are sick, are the most concerning and we are asking you to shut them down for a period of two weeks,” Raimondo said.
“I want to make a few comments about a couple of specifics populations. First I would like to address high risk populations, and we’re hearing a lot from the senior community. We are urging anyone 60 years old or older, or anyone with an underlying health condition, not attend any events for the next two weeks,” Raimondo said.
“We are doing that because these are the populations that are the most vulnerable to this particular disease. It is worth noting that last night the CDC came out with guidance that organizations which serve high risks populations should be canceling events of ten people or more,” Raimondo said.
The governor also addressed whether K through 12 schools should be closed for a time as a result of the coronavirus concerns and noted that is not the state’s recommendation at the moment.
“At this time, we are not recommending that schools close. I want to re-emphasize that. It is not our recommendation for schools to close,” Raimondo said.
“There are few reasons that schools are in a different category. First, we know that children are fairing better with this disease. Secondly, closing the school has significant implications for the entire community. Many children rely upon school to get two meals a day,” she said.
Raimondo said many children might also not have adequate childcare if they have to stay home or they maybe left elderly relatives.
The state did recommended the closing of St. Raphael Academy following a school community member’s positive test for coronavirus, she noted, and in those cases the Department of Health would work with the school on whether a closing was required.
“But as a broad policy, we are not closing schools at this time,” Raimondo said.
The Rhode Island Department of Education will shortly be issuing recommendations to schools “so that teachers parents, children, can remain safe while school is open,” she said.
“This guidance will include no school-wide assemblies or events of any kind of 250 people or more in line with the guidance I just offered,” Raimondo said.
Schools could also decide to have a lower threshold for gatherings of say 100 people or fewer, she noted.
The state’ recommendations to schools will also suggest the adoption of “tighter visitor policies,” and recommend schools “do everything you can to verbally assess the sickness level of everybody entering the school and adopt more frequent cleaning policies,” she said.
“I will say we have been in constant contact with principals, teachers, superintendents, school departments, I understand every school is a little bit different, different in size, different in nature, and so we are providing our best guidance at this time to help you keep your children safe,” she said.
The state Department of Health has a coronavirus hotline, 401-222-8022, that people may call for more information on the recommendations, Raimondo noted.
To the business community, Raimondo said “We aren’t recommending at this time that businesses shutdown.
“The past few days I have talked to hundreds and hundreds of businesses, I realize that this is an unbelievably trying time and I want thank each and every one of you for your incredible effort and collaboration. We want you to stay open and we want you to conduct your business to the best of your ability. If you can send your employees home to work at home, do that. Allow people to take time out if they are sick, pay folks while they are sick. Take advantage of the emergency TDI and unemployment insurance that I announced the other day,” Raimondo said.
“We also want to recommend for businesses that have consumers who will be interacting and may be in lines take special consideration to how you can amend how you interact with your customers so that folks can have an appropriate amount of distance while they are in line,” she added.
Raimondo said she also wanted to note “the balance here is we are also trying to upgrade our economy to very best extent possible through this.
“So if you are a person who is under 60 years old and you feel perfectly healthy, it’s okay to go to the grocery store to go out to dinner. My family and I went out to dinner last night. If you can support the local economy, you’re young, you’re healthy, everyone in your family isn’t sick, you ought to do that.
But we want you to be smart about it,” Raimondo said.
“I understand what I am asking for here is unusual, it’s radical, it’s two weeks. We have one shot to get this right. Everybody get in the boat, row in the same direction so that we can put a lid on coronavirus before, as we’ve seen in other places, it gets out of control,” Raimondo said.
Raimondo said her most important message to Rhode Island residents was “stay home if you are sick. That’s critical. As Dr. Alexander-Scott will explain. The risk of transmission, contagion is much lower for folks that are asymptomatic. Stay home if you are sick, avoid large group gatherings, keep a distance between you and your neighbors and recognize that if we do this now, if we follow these instructions for a short period of time, we will all be better off in the long run,” Raimondo said.
Alexander-Scott said the “one key message that we want to emphasize today is that the measures that the governor has laid out and the guidance about large events are most effective when they are implemented now before widespread community transmission occurs in Rhode Island.
“As a state we have the unique opportunity to have a positive impact by implementing these steps now prior to the onset of widespread community transmission. That’s why we are being so aggressive in our approach,” Alexander-Scott said.
“It is this targeted time frame that we have and if we can positively impact what happens later on this is the time to be able to do it,” she said.
“If we can take these steps now, we can do work to limit the spread of COVID-19. And our focus here is to use every tool in our toolbox to do so. There are other states that may not have the same unique type of opportunity that we have right now.”