It Took RI 10 Months To Reach 100,000 COVID Cases, We Could Top It in January Alone

It Took RI 10 Months To Reach 100,000 COVID Cases, We Could Top It in January Alone

In January of 2021, in the midst of last winter's deadly surge, Rhode Island exceeded 100,000 total COVID cases since the pandemic began in March of 2020. 

It then took another eleven months to top 200,000 cases -- the state pierced the 200,000 COVID case level in early December of 2021.

Then Omicron hit Rhode Island.

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At the present pace, the state is going to record far in excess of 100,000 cases in January alone. 

In the first six days of 2022 (with two of them being over the New Year's weekend), Rhode Island is now averaging about 4,500 cases a day. At the present pace, the state is on track to exceed 120,000 cases in January alone.

The Omicron variant’s spread is running rampant as Rhode Island continues to be the most infected state in the country.

Rhode Island continues to have limited testing, but even with the lack of capacity, the state has been reporting multiple days with 6,000 plus cases.

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has repeatedly re-reported the daily number of positive COVID cases: 

Jan 1 cases: 2,156

Jan 2 cases: 2,243

Jan 3 cases: 5,373

Jan 4 cases: 6,314

Jan 5 cases: 6,041

Jan 6 cases: 4,783 (unadjusted)

 

Deaths Continue at a High Level

In November, Rhode Island recorded 53 deaths. That number jumped to 150 in December, and in the first six days of January, Rhode Island has suffered 32 COVID deaths according to the RIDOH data.

 

RI's "Epidemic Free Fall"

On December 3, GoLocal exclusively reported that the state's top epidemiologist was warning that Rhode Island was headed for a dangerous spike.

GoLocal was provided a copy of a Zoom meeting in which a top RIDOH expert said that COVID is in an “epidemic free fall” in the state.

He made these comments to a group of nearly 200 physicians. 

John Fulton, Ph.D., who was the Chief Health Program Evaluator for the State of Rhode Island, warned that the state has functionally no strategy to stop the spread of the virus.

Fulton is now a consultant to RIDOH as an epidemiologist and is a researcher at Brown University.

"At this point, we're in a situation where we are in sort of epidemic free fall," said Fulton.

Fulton's comments are in stark contrast to the comments of Governor Dan McKee and RIDOH Director Dr. Nicole Alexander Scott who were continuing to state that the RI’s program of emphasizing vaccinations is effective.

Rhode Island’s vaccination rate is 73% but many of those who received two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines have lost more than half of their initial protection.

Less than 40% of Rhode Islanders have been vaccinated in the past six months or have received a booster.