RI's Coronavirus Numbers Show Improvement Following Pause

CRANSTON, RI—Two days after the end of Rhode Island's three-week coronavirus "pause," the state saw an encouraging trend in its weekly data, with a decline among all three indicators-percent positivity, new hospital admissions, and cases per 100,000 people.

The R.I. Department of Health COVID-19 Data Tracker revealed that the state experienced a significant drop in new cases per 100,000 people, falling to 594 from last week's 791. Percent positivity also saw a hopeful trend, dropping 1.4 percentage points from 7.8% to 6.4%.

New hospitalizations decreased significantly compared to last week, down by 24 from last week. Hospitalizations are a lagging indicator, meaning that they tend see significant decreases a week or two later than others. There are currently 440 people hospitalized statewide.

At Gov. Gina Raimondo's coronavirus conference on Tuesday, she said the data suggests that Rhode Island's three-week pause was beneficial statewide due to an increase in precautions and compliance from residents.

"It's a significant improvement." Raimondo said.

Although Rhode Island's COVID-19 data is improving, Raimondo is still asking residents to celebrate the holidays with members of their households and avoid indoor celebrations with people they do not live with.

"Thank you for hanging in there with the pause and following the rules," the governor said.