Governor mandates face coverings for all ‘customer-facing’ businesses

Gov. Gina Raimondo’s daily press briefing included the announcement of a new executive order, to take effect this Saturday, April 18. It will require all “customer-facing” businesses to both provide and require that all employees wear cloth face coverings — and remind customers to do the same.

“That means that if you go to the grocery store this weekend, everyone should be wearing one,” she said.

Both the governor and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, noted that while these cloth face coverings will not prevent coronavirus infections, they will reduce transmission.

They suggested that business owners and managers visit commerce.ri.com for videos and tips on getting, making, and distributing face coverings.

Dr. Alexander-Scott also recommended that face coverings be washed daily, and never be shared. “Coverings are not a replacement for social distancing, washing hands, and staying home,” she said. “It is not acceptable to go out with symptoms, ever."

Death, infection toll continues to rise

Another 7 deaths were announced, bringing the state’s total number of fatalities to 80. Rhode Island has 275 new cases, for a total of 3,251, and 213 people are currently hospitalized.

Dr. Alexander-Scott said that two of the fatalities were people in their sixties, two were in their seventies, and three were in their eighties. Three were residents of nursing homes, while one additional was a group home resident.

The governor noted that Rhode Islanders should expect those numbers to continue to rise rapidly as the region climbs up the curve. “Don’t be alarmed, but maintain your vigilance,” she said. “Please double down and continue to abide by social distancing requirements.”

Dr. Alexander-Scott said that while the numbers of new cases have flattened a bit in the past couple of days, that was a function of the holiday and yesterday’s bad weather.

Reopening of the economy

As always, the governor stated that her primary goal is to reopen the economy as soon as possible, but the state must get a more targeted response in place, and her new face-covering requirement is one piece of that puzzle.

Contact tracing is another, and she reminded everyone to maintain a contact tracing notebook, logging anyone they have contact with, and where they go, every day.

In response to questions, the governor said that a partnership formed with other northeastern governors is a working group to share strategies, there is no implied obligation to do anything on another state’s timeline, and that she will always make choices based on what is right for Rhode Island.

Evictions, utility shut-offs on hold

Evictions are on hold, and courts that would hear housing issues are closed through May 17. The Public Utilities Commission has likewise extended an order that electric, gas, water and sewer cannot be shut off or sent to collection through May 8.

Still, the governor said that for those Rhode Islanders and businesses that can pay their bills, rent, or taxes on time, please do.

As far as health insurance is concerned, the HealthSource RI deadline has been pushed back to April 30, on top of the fact that anyone who loses or changes jobs at any time has 60 days to enroll.

Testing where it needs to be

At this point, with symptomatic patients tested at a rate of more than 2,000 per day, capacity is adequate. The serology tests that will show who has had COVID-19 would be the next step, but those tests are several weeks away from being widely available. Likewise, PPE supplies, while not overly abundant, have stabilized, and hospitals are managing “a day at a time.”

The Goldman Sachs $10 million forgivable small business loan program, just announced yesterday, has already been depleted, though the governor hopes that more funds could become available soon, particularly though an expansion of the Payroll Protection Program.

Asked what she thought about President Trump’s comment that he would determine when the economy would reopen, Gov. Raimondo said, “As governors, we have had to make the tough decisions to close down our economies and at at the end of the day we will make the tough decisions to reopen. And we will do it based on facts, science, and evidence.

“You’ve seen governors lead through this, and that will continue.”

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