UPDATED: Raimondo Closes Schools in RI and Coronavirus Cases Jump from 5 to 14
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo announced Friday that the state is closing schools next week -- and that the cases of coronavirus have jumped from 5 to 14.
"We are going to move up the previously scheduled April break to next week — K-12 public schools will have spring break next week," said Raimondo at a press conference at the Department of Administration. "Schools will be working on distance learning plans in the event that after next week [we have to further distance learning]."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Closing school for a week now will not only enable us to slow the spread of the virus, but to put plans in place and additional cleaning and protocols," said Raimondo.
Raimondo said she was asking child care and day care centers to "stay open next week as safely as possible."
Cases Up by 9
"Today I’m announcing that we have found 9 new positive cases — which takes us to a total of 14 cases," said Raimondo.
"Some will say you went from 5 to 14 — are we surprised, no," she said. "The plans we had in place were designed for this to happen. What happens now depends on each and every Rhode Islander — if we want to stay ahead of it every single one of us has to do our part."
"I know tensions are rising — it’s an opportunity for us to take a collective deep breath," she said. "Panic is not helpful — spreading misinformation is dangerous — remain calm and keep ourselves informed."
Raimondo also announced she was mandating that anyone who has traveled internationally in the last 14 days to self-quarantine immediately -- and she is signing an executive order today.
RI Commissioner of Education Angelica Infante-Green said in a statement, "These are not easy days to be education leaders. While we are dealing with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation, we all feel directly how challenging it is to balance the health and safety of our students with the priority to educate them for the future."
"Today, we made the tough call to close schools, starting next Monday, across Rhode Island. This was not an easy decision, but it is the right one. We have one week to do the hard work of cleaning all our facilities, developing options for continuing learning under trying circumstances, and supporting our educators as they plan for school under each of the options we are considering," she added.
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