Raimondo: ‘stay at home’ order lifted

Governor says re-opening plan comes with many restrictions

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Thursday announced that she would lift the state’s stay-athome order, opting not to e[tend it after it e[pires today, although she cautioned that Rhode Island tomorrow will not be all that different than the Rhode Island that most have become familiar with since the order was put into effect in late-March.

The first phase of the reopening of Rhode Island will go into effect on Saturday, with Raimondo e[plaining that “phase one” will not look “very different than it looks right now.”

“If you’re working from home, you need to still work from home. If you can work from home, work from home. We’re still not going to be able to congregate, we still have to keep si[ feet apart from one another, it won’t be visibly much different,” Raimondo said. “It’s absolutely not time to e[pand your social network. This is not the time for social gatherings. My focus is to get people back to work. The economic devastation in this state and every state around the country is untenable, so I’m focused like a laser on work, getting people enabled to work.”

For people who have deferred healthcare needs, Raimondo said, it’s time to call your doctor and see your doctor if that is recommended. Telehealth is still fully available and working well, the governor said, but if people need immuni]ations or appointments, it’s time to begin scheduling those. Additionally, hospitals will begin resuming required but non-emergency medical procedures.

In the first phase, non-critical retail stores will be able to reopen with capacity limits, but people will still need to

wear masks.

“Go ahead, get back out there. We need to stimulate this economy, so if you can, get out there and do a little bit of safe shopping,” Raimondo said.

For offices, employees are permitted to begin to return to work on a limited basis and for a limited period of time, Raimondo said while some state parks will reopen with limited parking starting on 6aturday, although the governor cautioned “don’t go to the park and congregate, because we all know that that’s what causes troubles.”

During the first phase of reopening, places of worship will open to five people or fewer and funerals will be allowed for a ma[imum of 1 people, provided they are “appropriately socially distanced,” Raimondo said.

While the stay-at-home order will be lifted, the state limitations to keep gatherings of people to five or fewer will remain in place until May .

Raimondo also announced a number of e[ecutive orders were e[tended until May . They include anyone coming to Rhode Island from any other state for a non-work-related purpose by any mode of transportation must self-quarantine for 14 days ± the restriction does not apply to anyone traveling to another state and coming back for medical treatment or to obtain necessities such as groceries, gas, or medication restaurants, bars, and cafes will remain closed to dine-in service movie theaters, cinemas, bowling alleys, concert venues, museums, and ]oos will stay closed, as will gyms, hair salons, nail salons, barber shops, and tattoo parlors.

([tended until -une were a series of e[ecutive orders including anyone coming to Rhode Island from outside of the country must self-quarantine for 14 days anyone who’s been diagnosed with coronavirus by a lab test or by a doctor must isolate until they are cleared based on the Rhode Island Department of +ealth’s guidance and gun permit background checks have been e[tended to days.

“The first question will be µ+ow long will we be in phase one"’ The answer is I don’t know « I will say this, it’s the hope that it won’t be very long,” Raimondo said. “The hope is that we have another 14 days of a great e[perience, stabili]ation, everyone continues to do what they’re doing, cases are flat or down for 14 days, then we can have real confidence to keep moving.”

Raimondo said that she felt comfortable lifting the stayat-home order, as the state has “met all of the triggers such that we can do that safely.”

2ne of the key triggers was the need for there to be a 14day downward trend in cases or 14-day stable trend in hospitali]ations. For new hospital admissions, the state’s current three-day moving average shows a decrease of five new admissions per day compared to that of 14 days ago, a 1 percent decrease in the number of new hospitali]ations. For new cases, Rhode Island’s three-day moving average compared to that of 14 days ago shows a decrease of cases per day, a percent drop in the new case trend over the last two weeks.

“6o what that means is we’re meeting both metrics on the declining trend in cases and the flat or declining trend in hospitali]ations,” the governor said.

Raimondo also said Rhode Island is trending down over the past 14 days in the percent of positives and is also at a point where nearly all symptomatic people are able to receive a same-day test, getting their results within a day or two. Additionally, percent of the state’s I&U beds are available in e[isting hospitals and each hospital has a surge plan in place that can be activated at a moment’s notice, Raimondo said. There are also enough surgical masks and face shields to last more than a month and enough 1 masks and gloves to last several weeks.

“I Must laid out for you the fact that we have utterly rebuilt a system from scratch to enable us to go back to work safely and give you confidence,” Raimondo said. “The thing I want to convey to Rhode Island is you should start to regain your confidence.”

According to the Rhode Island Department of +ealth, 1 new deaths were reported on Thursday. 2f those, 14 lived in long-term care facilities and two were residents at the Rhode Island 9eterans +ome ± both in their s with underlying health issues, according to +ealth Director 1icole Ale[ander-6cott.

Additionally, new positive cases of &29ID-1 were reported on Thursday, increasing the state’s total to 1 , .

“This is a bit of bump, we think it should not alarm you. We think it’s a reflection of the fact that we are now making a big effort to test many at-risk communities«” Raimondo said of the increase in positive cases on Thursday. “We want to hit every nursing home, we are now in a lot of urban communities, highly-densely-populated communities, so we believe that this increase

is a reflection of where we are doing the testing, and frankly, if anything, it’s in some ways good news because the fact is that we are getting into those communities.”