New Coronavirus Regulations Expected In Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, RI — A second round of coronavirus regulations is expected in Rhode Island Thursday afternoon. Gov. Gina Raimondo will address the state at her weekly news conference at 1 p.m.

The first round of new rules came Friday, when the governor again urged all residents to avoid gatherings for Halloween, Election Day and the coming holidays. The social gathering limit was also lowered to 10 from 15 people or fewer. Raimondo and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, urged Rhode Islanders to keep their social groups stable and as small as possible in the coming weeks, and to wear a mask any time they are with someone from outside their household.

"If the trend goes on for another week or two, we can't [have targeted restrictions]," Raimondo said at the time. "It's back to shutdown."

Data trends show a worsening situation in the state's virus surge, which Raimondo called a second wave. Tuesday's weekly update showed another rise in the state's cases per 100,000 people, at 278 as of Oct. 31, nearly three times the state's safe threshold of 100.

Hospitalizations and the percent positive rate continue to creep up as well, with the weekly percent positive rate now over 3 percent and hospitalizations up by double digits.

Watch the governor's news conference on Facebook or the Capitol Television website.

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