Governor Gina M. Raimondo and Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), made several announcements today about the state’s response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
– Face coverings: The Governor signed an executive order clarifying the state’s directives around cloth face coverings. Beginning Saturday:
All employees of customer-facing businesses, office-based businesses, manufacturers and nonprofits, must wear cloth face coverings when they are at work.
Business must provide face coverings for their employees. Face coverings can include scarves, bandanas, and other homemade and non-factory-made masks.
Additionally, all customer-facing businesses must take steps to remind customers to wear face coverings. That means they should be putting up signs at the door reminding customers to wear a face covering inside.
The only exceptions from these rules are for anyone whose health would be in jeopardy because of wearing a face covering or any children under 2 years old.
– Health insurance: The Governor announced that HealthSourceRI is extending their special open enrollment period through April 30. Rhode Islanders looking to purchase coverage should visit www.healthsourceri.com.
COVID-19 Data Update
Dr. Alexander-Scott announced today that Rhode Island has 275 new cases of COVID-19. This brings Rhode Island’s count to 3,251. RIDOH also announced seven additional COVID-19 associated fatalities. Of these people, two were in their 60s, two were in their 70s, and three were in their 80s. Of these seven people, three people were residents at nursing homes and one person was a resident at a group home. Rhode Island’s number of COVID-19 associated fatalities is now 80
