State Testing in RI Drops: 421 Total New Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations Continue to Climb

State Testing in RI Drops: 421 Total New Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations Continue to Climb

There are two significant learnings from today's coronavirus numbers — first, that the coronavirus continues to spread in Rhode Island. 

There were a total of 421 additional cases reported by the state and 288 of them were reported for Monday on limited testing. The difference is what the state calls catchup data - tests that were not recorded on their actual day due to data capture issues or late reporting by labs.

Second, testing remains inconsistent and, in fact, when removing the college and university results, Rhode Island has a ever-growing positivity rate.

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According to Rhode Island Department of Health data released Tuesday, there were 8,031 tests on Monday, but of those, 2,451 were asymptomatic tests conducted by the colleges and universities. 

So, Rhode Island only conducted just 5,580 and of that, RIDOH cannot report how many were asymptotic versus symptomatic tests.

As the colleges and universities reported only 2 positive cases, of the total 288 positive cases reported across RI, 266 were detected on just 5,580 tests — a positivity rate of nearly 5.1%.

Hospitalizations Continue to Rise

Hospitalizations are now 168 — showing continued growth over the past two weeks. And, unfortunately, Rhode Island reported another 4 deaths.

Dr. Michael Fine, RI's former Director of Health, warns that hospitalizations could continue to climb to more than 200 over the next couple of weeks.

The bright spot is Rhode Islanders in the ICU or on ventilators continues to be low -- just 14 and 8 respectfully.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH DR. FINE ABOVE