A limited reopening of non-essential retail stores will begin if the current stay-at-home order is lifted on May 9, Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Monday, while plans are also in the works to allow restaurants to start offering outdoor dining services as part of the first phase of the state’s reopening.
Meanwhile, a host of other restrictions – including the prohibition on visitation at nursing homes, hospitals and assisted living facilities – will remain in place during phase one.
And on Tuesday, Raimondo announced a new executive order will take effect Friday requiring all Rhode Islanders to wear cloth nose and mouth coverings in both indoor and outdoor public spaces.
The governor acknowledged that some retailers and restaurants will not have the capability to reopen even under the new rules. But she again expressed optimism that the stay-at-home order will be allowed to expire, saying Rhode Islanders were “very compliant” with mask wearing and social distancing over the weekend despite the warm weather – and pointing to the latest COVID-19 data as a telling a “good news story” despite a number of new deaths related to the virus.
“As I stand here today … it is my hope and intention to lift the stay-at-home order when it expires May 8,” the governor said, before providing what she described as a “flavor of what phase one might look like.”
Phase one preview
Using a series of visualizations to illustrate how the new phase one rules would look when implemented, Raimondo on Monday discussed how non-essential retailers, restaurants and offices can expect to proceed if the stay-at-home order is lifted.
Tempering expectations, she prefaced the remarks by saying: “It is not going to look radically different than it does now. And if it does, and we start to see crowds and bunching, we’re doing something wrong.”
For retail stores that were ordered closed in late March, the governor said the new restrictions will be “similar to what you’re seeing in grocery stores now,” with a limit of one customer being allowed inside to browse for every 300 square feet of space. That is the formula currently used to determine occupancy for grocery stores during special hours for older shoppers, she said. Under the new rules, workers and customers will be required to wear masks.
Raimondo said pre-ordering and pickup services will continue to be encouraged, as will contact-free payment methods.
In terms of restaurants, the governor said outdoor dining would not begin immediately on May 9. Specifics remain limited, but she said it would be a “very different form of dining than we’re used to,” with mask-wearing requirements and “frequently touched and reused objects” such as menus prohibited. Regular dine-in service, she added, will not be include in phase one.
On both the retail and restaurant front, Raimondo said she is aware many establishments lack the capability to accommodate the new rules due to limitations such as space or location. She encouraged businesses to explore “creative” solutions – in the case of restaurants, for instance, using parking areas to accommodate outdoor dining.
Raimondo said close-contact business such as salons “will definitely be the focus of phase two.”
The governor said office workers should continue to work from home during phase one if possible, although returning on a limited basis – to pick up documents and materials, for example – will be permitted. She said additional guidance regarding how offices should proceed will be forthcoming, although she said mask wearing, social distancing and health screenings will be a part of the new approach.
The governor also indicated she is planning to issue a new executive order providing additional guidance in terms of mask-wearing.
“Throughout this week, there’s going to be a lot more detail,” she said, adding later: “We’re going to have to be flexible. We’re going to have to be patient. We’re going to have to work with each other.”
Another focus of the first phase of the reopening, Raimondo said, will be urging people who have deferred health care services during the crisis to schedule appointments through their provider. That will also involve “relaxing a lot of the requirements” for health care professionals whose work has been slowed or halted by the current crisis.
Raimondo said her decision to proceed with the reopening plan earlier than Massachusetts and other nearby states is tied to the gradual, phased nature of the state’s approach.
“What’s not fine is returning to normal right away,” she said. “Remember, go slow, go steady.”
Under the reopening outline unveiled last week, 14-day trends in terms of COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations will be among the key indicators of when each phase of the reopening process can begin.
Asked during a follow-up conference call with reporters when there would be a definitive announcement regarding the status of the stay-at-home order, Raimondo said she is targeting Thursday.
She added: “People should assume that [lifting the order] is what is what’s going to happen, absent some bad thing happening that’s going to prevent that.”
New order on masks
Raimondo on Tuesday said she will sign a new executive order, which will take effect Friday, requiring all Rhode Islanders to wear cloth-based mouth and nose coverings while in public places. She previously issued an order requiring workers in all businesses to wear masks while on the job.
As the state prepares to enter the first phase of the reopening plan, “we’re going to have to do better with our facemask wearing,” she said.
“You don’t leave your house without your phone or car keys or wallet, so don’t leave your house without your face mask,” she said, adding: “I fully recognize that this is going to be awkward, strange … and there’s going to be a thousand what-ifs.”
Raimondo said people should “be reasonable and use common sense” in terms of mask wearing, and that officials want to avoid a “heavy-handed” approach to enforcement. There will be fines for violators, however.
Additional guidance will be issued Friday, the governor said. She also noted Tuesday that lack of mask-wearing by customers in drive-thru lines at food service establishments remains a source of concern.
The governor recommended Rhode Islanders visit the CDC’s website, cdc,gov, to find a do-it-yourself tutorial on making masks.
By the numbers
Another 21 fatalities related to COVID-19 were reported Monday, bringing the state’s overall death toll to 341 people. It marked the second consecutive day with more than 20 new deaths, following the 24 reported Sunday.
The number of new deaths was lower Tuesday, with 14 fatalities reported. The deaths involved people from their 50s to older than 100.
Another 281 positive cases of COVID-19 have been identified, according to Tuesday’s update. To date, 76,435 Rhode Islanders have been tested for the disease, with 66,502 testing negative. The latest updated is based on 2,229 new tests.
As of Tuesday, 327 people were hospitalized in Rhode Island due to COVID-19. Of those, 89 were on ICUs and 62 were on ventilators. To date, 639 people have been discharged from the state’s hospitals after treatment for the disease.
The latest city and town case counts from Monday include Providence (3,096), Pawtucket (946) Cranston (564), Central Falls (503), North Providence (496), East Providence (398), Warwick (384), Woonsocket (331), Cumberland (201), Smithfield (173), Johnston (162), West Warwick (147), North Kingstown (147) and Coventry (109). Updated case counts for Tuesday were not available at press time.
Raimondo on Monday said it is important to “remember the toll that this crisis is taking on so many families in Rhode Island, especially those who’ve lost loved ones,” but she also framed Monday’s figures as “good news” given the decline in new cases and the relative stability of hospitalization and ICU numbers.
“I think these numbers are a good news story … We’re on top of it. It’s stable. We’ve made good choices, and we’ve done as good of a job as we could,” she said.
Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott expressed a similar sentiment on Tuesday.
“The relative stability in these numbers is something that we are considering encouraging,” she said.
At the start of Monday’s briefing, Raimondo said Department of Business Regulation staffers conducted unannounced spot checks at more than 300 businesses across Rhode Island over the weekend. They reported a 95 percent compliance rate in terms of customers wearing masks and nearly 100 percent compliance with the 6-feet social distancing requirement, the governor said.
Elsewhere during the governor’s briefings:
*Alexander-Scott said the state is embarking on a new testing initiative, which will be available on a voluntary basis to workers at four Stop & Shop locations around the state. It will including COVID-19 diagnostic and antibody testing, and is intended to use “use specific, representative samples of people and places” to garner more info about the transmission of the virus in Rhode Island. She said the initiative is similar to work done annually to formulate estimates regarding the flu. *Raimondo confirmed that federal authorities are investigating unemployment insurance fraud in the state, although she declined further comment. She did say she believes the Department of Labor and Training’s checks for fraud are adequate, and she said any fraud is likely due to “bad actors” rather than any failure of the existing system.
FOR RETAIL: Non-essential retail businesses will be allowed to reopen with new restrictions – including a limit on the number of customers allowed inside to browse – if the state’s stay-at-home order is lifted on May 9.
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