McKee To Talk COVID-19 Pandemic At Tuesday News Conference

PROVIDENCE, RI — As coronavirus cases climb once again in Rhode Island., Gov. Dan McKee will hold a pandemic-centered news conference Tuesday afternoon. At 2 p.m., the governor will be joined by Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott and other top state health officials.

The briefing will offer "an update on COVID-19, the Delta variant in Rhode Island, and the state’s continued response, recovery and vaccination efforts," according to McKee's public schedule.

Coronavirus new briefings are usually streamed live on the Governor's official Facebook page.

Scheduled coronavirus news conferences ended in Rhode Island in June, after more than a year.

Then-Gov. Gina Raimondo started holding briefings after the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Rhode Island. At the time, she and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the director of the Department of Health, held daily briefings as the pandemic situation changed rapidly.

After social distancing orders were put into effect, the briefings were closed to all members of the public and the media, with questions later made possible by a live, online feed. The briefings were later moved to Veterans Memorial Auditorium to allow reporters to attend while maintaining physical distance.

Over time, the briefings were reduced to just weekdays, then just a few times per week, weekly, and, finally, McKee opted to hold them on a biweekly basis.