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Non-essential retail businesses reopened last week and restaurants will be able to join them next week, with stringent new restrictions and regulations. Most businesses will need to reduce capacity, maintain social distancing, and adopt meticulous cleaning policies.
To help, the state is offering free medical masks to qualifying small businesses with 50 employees or fewer. Those same businesses will also be able to receive vouchers for free disinfectant, to be picked up at local Ocean State Job Lots.
The companies will be able to receive about a month’s worth of supplies. The program is open to small retailers, restaurants, and manufacturers.
“Frankly, the [businesses] who have been hit the hardest,” said Gov. Raimondo Wednesday. “The ones that are struggling the most at getting their hands on the supplies they need to reopen safely with the new guidelines.”
In addition, 500 laptops from Microsoft and tech support will be available to small businesses with employees of 25 or fewer. 500 more laptops will be provided to K-12 and undergraduate students at RIC still unable to access online classes.
The state expects to begin providing the supplies next week.
To access the program, businesses will be required to submit a checklist to the state, ensuring they’ve completed a reopening plan that adheres to the new regulations.
Rhode Island is now about a week into what’s being called phase one of the reopening of the state. There are three phases. Moving to a new phase requires more testing and declining or stable rates of COVID-19 infections.
On Wednesday, the state reported 18 new fatalities, bringing the total in Rhode Island to 462. There are now 11,835 cases in the state.
“Still seeing a plateau,” Raimondo said. “We haven’t seen a decline.”
But the picture is worse in densely populated parts of cities in the urban core including Woonsocket, Providence and Central Falls. These are largely poorer communities that include undocumented residents. Of those tested in these areas, the positive test rate is hovering between 15 and 20 percent. The state as a whole has a positive test rate below ten percent, the Governor said Wednesday.
The state is ramping up testing in those places, including a new walk-up testing center in Providence, and tripled testing capacity in Woonsocket.
Rhode Island is also increasing antibody testing, for asymptomatic patients that may have been previously exposed to the virus. The state opened two new sites at Providence grocery stores, in addition to the four already running. Currently the sites are operating a pilot program with up to 5,000 randomly selected residents contacted through the Department of Health.
As testing increases, and retail and restaurants begin to reopen, the state’s looming summer tourism season is already bracing for big losses this year. Most weddings, festivals and concerts are all cancelled. Beaches are likely to reopen with restrictions.
Governor Raimondo says she hopes to salvage some part of the tourism economy, but it remains unclear what regulations will need to be in place to keep residents and out of state visitors safe.
Travelers staying in Rhode Island must still self-isolate for 14 days. That requirement is in place until early June. But Raimondo says she doubts it will extend through the summer. Raimondo raised the idea of testing tourists, but the plan may prove unfeasible.
“How many tests would that require, how would we administer that?” Raimondo said. “Could we work with the hospitality association to do that? Obviously it couldn’t be forced, it would be encouraged.”
