Barrington Orders Wearing of Masks

The town of Barrington has ordered residents to wear facial masks in public or face a fine.of up to $500.

This is the first city or town in Rhode Island to issue such an order and a potential fine. 

PHOTO: Lilly M.Corona CC

Retail Sales Numbers Collapse

"Retail sales, a measure of purchases at stores, gasoline stations, restaurants, bars and online, fell by a seasonally adjusted 8.7% in March from a month earlier, the biggest month-over-month decline since the records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, "reports the Wall Street Journal."

"Sales at clothing stores plunged by more than 50%, while spending on motor vehicles, furniture, electronics and sporting goods fell by double digits."

Numbers

3,529 Cases in Rhode Island

29,918 Cases in Massachusetts

87 Deaths in RI

1,108 Deaths in Massachusetts

644,348 Cases in the United States

28,554 Deaths in the United States

2,094,839 Global Cases

135,569 Global Deaths

520,930 Global Recoveries

No Racial Data in Rhode Island

While most states are reporting how the virus is impacting racial groups, Rhode Island continues to fail to provide data on the number of infected, tested, hospitalized, or have died by race.

This obviously limits the ability to develop strategies to minimize the impacts of the disease on certain groups.

Safe Spaces

RIHavens.com is a new website that connects those in need of a safe space to quarantine with hotel rooms across the state offered at significantly discounted rates – some as low as $25 a night.

The website is part of a wider effort to meet the basic needs of all Rhode Islanders in quarantine and isolation during this pandemic. 

Coronavirus May Be Most Contagious 1-2 Days Before Symptoms Appear

Science News reports that conventional thinking and early CDC guidance may be completely wrong.

People with coronavirus infections may be most contagious one to two days before they start to feel ill, new research suggests.

What’s more, considering pairs of people in which one person definitely caught the coronavirus from the other, scientists estimate that about 44 percent of COVID-19 cases may spread from person to person before symptoms appear. The results indicate that efforts to track down contacts of people with COVID-19 should include people encountered several days before a person’s symptoms appear, researchers suggested on April 15 in Nature Medicine.

GoLocal LIVE Schedule Thursday, April 16, 2019

12:00 PM Dr. Michael Fine, Former RI Director of Health

1:00 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.