7 Major Coronavirus Developments — RI's Data Failure — April 15, 2020
GoLocalProv News Team
7 Major Coronavirus Developments — RI's Data Failure — April 15, 2020
The data is not an academic exercise -- it is critical to be able to deploy resources and make decisions about reopening the economy.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut the Raimondo administration is now hamstrung due to its failure to collect, analyze, and report data.
- Modeling, that Raimondo promised to release on April 3 has yet to be published.
- Racial breakdown and other critical demography data have not been released despite repeated promises by the administration.
- Basic data for cases by cities and towns were not updated for four days.
This lack of basic data has curtailed basic strategy development.
WATCH: Former RI Director of Health Dr. Michael Fine on GoLocal LIVE at 12 PM on Wednesday
Dr. Michael Fine said on GoLocal LIVE on Tuesday that he worries that the state is wasting time contact tracing. He says it is simply too late to conduct an effective program.
"We're actually getting close to where testing may not have as much influence as people wanted and even where contact tracing may not have as much influence as people want today -- I think that they were incredibly useful three and four weeks ago when we were trying to stop the spread of this pandemic but right now we're in an interesting place and that is we now begin to have begun to understand that the virus is essentially everywhere and then everyone is potentially exposed," he said.
Fine says Rhode Island may be now doing the wrong testing and that the effort should now be focused on testing for the antibody.
“I'd love to know whether we're five percent immune [or] 30% immune and certainly we want to know the moment we hit 60% immune because that's when we can think about opening up from a safety perspective,” said Fine.
He says the state needs to take on large serological analysis to be able to have the data to make smart decisions about reopening the economy, schools, and day cares.
Last week the Department of Health told GoLocal that they had not formulated a serological testing strategy.
“We're still probably a few months out before we can start doing serological testing, so we don't yet have a firm plan drawn up. We are planning to explore how to best do this, and integrate serology into our testing infrastructure. But our immediate focuses are testing, case finding, and mitigation measures to limit the spread,” according to Joseph Wendelken of the Rhode Island Department of Health.
READ 7 Major Coronavirus Developments BELOW
7 Major Coronavirus Developments — April 15, 2020
California Announces New Restrictions -- as Part of Loosening Existing Restrictions
California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced the following restrictions -- when the state begins to reopen the economy:
Face Coverings
Temperature Checks in Public
Fewer Tables at Restaurants
Waiters in Masks and Gloves
Disposable Menus
Staggering Student Arrivals at Schools
Reconfigure Classrooms
No Large Gatherings - Sporting Events, Concerts, Etc.
Harvard Professors Warn Social Distancing Will Continue Through 2022
Harvard Professors Stephen M. Kissler, Christine Tedijanto, Edward Goldstein, Yonatan H. Grad, and Marc Lipsitch in the publication Science laid out that coronavirus will be persistent for years without a vaccine and social distancing will be necessary into 2020. They outline other critical steps:
We projected that recurrent wintertime outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 will probably occur after the initial, most severe pandemic wave. Absent other interventions, a key metric for the success of social distancing is whether critical care capacities are exceeded. To avoid this, prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2022.
Additional interventions, including expanded critical care capacity and an effective therapeutic, would improve the success of intermittent distancing and hasten the acquisition of herd immunity. Longitudinal serological studies are urgently needed to determine the extent and duration of immunity to SARS-CoV-2. Even in the event of apparent elimination, SARS-CoV-2 surveillance should be maintained since a resurgence in contagion could be possible as late as 2024.
Numbers
3,251 Cases in Rhode Island
28,163 Cases in Massachusetts
80 Deaths in RI
957 Deaths in Massachusetts
614,246 Cases in the United States
26,064 Deaths in the United States
2,014,006 Global Cases
127,594 Global Deaths
491,824 Global Recoveries
Raimondo Orders Employees to Wear Face Coverings
On Tuesday, Governor Gina Raimondo signed an executive order clarifying the state’s directives around cloth face coverings. Beginning Saturday:
All employees of customer-facing businesses, office-based businesses, manufacturers and nonprofits, must wear cloth face coverings when they are at work.
Businesses must provide face coverings for their employees. Face coverings can include scarves, bandanas, and other homemade and non-factory-made masks.
Additionally, all customer-facing businesses must take steps to remind customers to wear face coverings. That means they should be putting up signs at the door reminding customers to wear a face-covering inside.
The only exceptions from these rules are for anyone whose health would be in jeopardy because of wearing a face covering or any children under 2 years old.
Are Colleges Coming Back in the Fall?
Boston University is now looking at a January 1 return to campus rather than opening the campus in September.
"The BU Today article says the January start date would happen in the 'unlikely event' that health officials advise that social distancing should extend through the fall. But it is still significant that a major U.S. university is making public the possibility that face-to-face classes could be delayed for as long as nine months. BU has also canceled all its in-person summer classes," reports Forbes.
Bank of America Earnings Hit
BoA announced Wednesday morning that its profits fell 45% in the first quarter.
The bank has a strong connection to Rhode Island due to its Fleet Bank legacy. It is run by former Fleet executive Brian Moynihan.
The bank is setting aside $3.6 billion to cover potentially bad loans during the coronavirus crisis.
GoLocal LIVE Schedule Wednesday, April 15, 2020
12:00 PM Dr. Michael Fine, Former RI Director of Health
2:30 PM Governor Gina Raimondo Briefing
EDITOR'S NOTE: Raimondo does not allow Rhode Islanders to hear reporters' questions. Nearly all governors across the country and the White House allow reporters to ask questions directly and for the public to hear the questions and the responses.
