RI’s Black Friday Crowds Ignore Warnings - Is It Next Superspreader Event
Friday, November 27, 2020
Shoppers were lined up by the dozens at Providence’s Walmart before the store's Black Friday opening time of 5:00 AM.
With a handful of Walmart staffers outside the building, maybe 100 deal-seekers were queued up at the front door and down the side of the big-box retailer.
As the doors opened Walmart staff let shoppers in one-by-one.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHealth Warnings
For public health experts, it is another event that needed to take a year off.
Dr. Michael Fine has repeatedly said that this unnecessary congregation of people during the pandemic creates the environment for massive spread and infection.
Fine, the former Rhode Island Director of Health said on GoLocal LIVE on Wednesday, “I hope people stay home on Friday too. Because I'm just as worried about Friday as I am about [Thanksgiving]."
"You know I don't think we ought to be seeing lines of people in front of big box stores. Maybe this is our materialism coming home to roost but this is a time to sort of think about Thanksgiving and think about people -- not think about stuff," he said.
But for many, the deals won out. The deals include a Samsung 65’ marked down from $549.99 to $478.00. A good deal, but hardly worth a trip to Rhode Island Hospital’s COVID unit or the ICU.
The Impact Will Be Know Soon
In the next few days, those who gathered with people for Thanksgiving or went out shopping may begin to develop the symptoms from the virus as they were infected by family members or fellow shoppers. Within as soon as a week after a portion will seek medical care and need hospitalizations.
In Rhode Island, Governor Gina Raimondo has known the gravity of Rhode Island's situation for weeks -- if not months -- as it has been hit with the "second wave."
The state is now in the "severe" outbreak category on COVID ActNow -- not just the "active" outbreak status as it has for weeks -- but Raimondo insisted on waiting to implement a partial shutdown starting this coming Monday.
For Rhode Island, more hospitalizations means bad news as all COVID beds across the state are now full according to Raimondo's announcement on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Rhode Island reported 10 additional COVID-19 related fatalities, and that 357 Rhode Islanders are now hospitalized due to coronavirus, with 35 in the ICU.
“If we don’t take it seriously — we will have to turn patients away. It’s not a threat but a mathematical reality,” said Raimondo, of the upcoming partial shutdown of certain segments of the economy ordered by the state -- but not on Black Friday.
Related Articles
- RI Reports 16 Coronavirus Deaths Over Weekend, Nearly 2500 New Cases
- Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Reportedly 94.5% Effective
- Providence City Hall Moving Back to Level II Coronavirus Restrictions, Limiting Occupancy
- Coronavirus Hits Raimondo’s Office—Multiple Staffers Impacted
- Rhode Island State Police Hit By Coronavirus - 10 Infections and 10 Quarantined
- RI Nursing Homes Slammed Again By Coronavirus, Data Shows RI Is 4th Highest for Deaths Per Capita
- Prov. Municipal Courts to Cease Hearings Due to Spread of Coronavirus Until Further Notice
- Ivy League Cancels All Winter Sports Due to Spread of Coronavirus
- ACI Hit With as Many 90 Coronavirus Cases This Week, 53 in Max Security
- At RI’s Rate of Increase of Coronavirus, State Headed for Thousands of New Cases Per Day
- RI Cities and Towns with Coronavirus Cases 2x RI Standard—See Where
- RI Reports More Than 600 New Coronavirus Cases - Colleges 30% of Testing, Just 4.6% of Cases
- Mandatory Testing, Curfews, and Frustration: Latest Coronavirus Developments From Bolzano, Italy
- 2,572 New Coronavirus Cases in RI Over Weekend, 57% Increase in 2 Weeks
- Raimondo’s Political Vanity Is Costing RI - 85% Increase in Coronavirus Cases in 2 Weeks - Landekic
- RI Reports 16 Coronavirus Deaths in One Day — Hospitalizations Jump to 323
- Thanksgiving May Take RI’s Coronavirus Cases and Deaths Even Higher - “400 to 500 Deaths” in Dec.
- 60% of East Greenwich Firefighters Have Coronavirus - Firehouse Shuttered
- 9 Communities Are Now Running 5 Times RI’s Action Level for Coronavirus Cases
- RI Coronavirus Deaths Approach 1,300 & More Than 1,000 New Cases
- New Record: 1,280 New Coronavirus Cases in One Day, Dr. Fine Says Disease is Out of Control in RI
- 5 Major Coronavirus Developments — RI On Pace for 250 or More Deaths By End of Year
- 5 Major Coronavirus Developments — Students Traveling and Thanksgiving to Spark Dangerous Surge
- RI Business Leaders React to Raimondo’s Coronavirus Announcement of Partial Shutdown
- Can PC and URI Beat Coronavirus and Have a College Basketball Season?
