RI Tied for Largest Increase in New COVID Cases in U.S. - 17 Deaths in One Week in RI
Wednesday, December 01, 2021
According to the New York Times, Rhode Island and Connecticut are tied with a 44% increase in new COVID cases over the past 14-days.
Rhode Island is facing two growing concerns -- increased infection due to the Delta variant and new concerns about the potential impact of the South African derived Omicron variant. SEE OMICRON TRACKING MAP BELOW
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RI's Increasing Numbers
Rhode Island has seen dramatic increases in the transmission rate, hospitalizations, and deaths in recent weeks.
Data from the Rhode Island Department of Health show equally concerning trends — there have been 17-COVID deaths in the state in the past week.
Rhode Island suffered 53 deaths in the month of November.
The transmission rate continues to climb and has risen to 339.9 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days -- which is now more than three times higher than the state's action level and a more than 200% increase in three weeks.
COVID hospitalizations continue to increase and is now at 155.
On November 17, 105 had been hospitalized with COVID -- Rhode Island has seen a 47% increase in two weeks.
WATCH FORMER RI DIRECTOR OF HEALTH DR. MICHAEL FINE ON GOLOCAL LIVE WEDNESDAY AT 12:30 PM
Omicron Factors
The Omicron variant continues to be a global concern.
The Wall Street Journal reports, "Stocks dropped after the opening bell Tuesday, and the declines accelerated after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would consider speeding up the wind-down of its easy-money policies in an effort to curtail inflation. In response, investors sold shares deemed most apt to be affected by inflation, such as banks and rapidly growing companies, as well as those that have been hit by supply-chain issues, like manufacturers and miners."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 652 points on Tuesday. Wednesday, market futures point to a higher opening.
The Biden White House held a briefing on Tuesday. Dr. Anthony Fauci said, "This is a list of the variants of concern that we’ve had to deal with, what their lineage designation is, and what the earliest documented samples were. And of course, for today, we’re going to be focusing on the latest — namely, the Omicron variant — that we’re dealing with."
Fauci said, "Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics and what has emerged over the last several days to weeks quickly. It was first reported in Botswana on November the 11th, and in South Africa on 11/14. The thing that got everyone’s attention was the large number of mutations — around 50 — much larger than previous variants. And some, according to the molecular configuration, were anticipated to impact transmissibility and antibody binding.
"There were varying cases that were rapidly increased, particularly in the Gauteng province of South Africa, which is Pretoria and Johannesburg, but is also present in virtually all the other South African provinces. Confirmed cases, as of yesterday, was 205 in 18 countries. And just this morning, that’s gone up to 226 in 20 countries. And I think you’re going to expect to see those numbers change rapidly," added Fauci.
RI Response to Omicron
In Rhode Island, neither Governor Dan McKee nor Rhode Island Director of Health Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott has announced any new policy changes in response to the Omicron variant.
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