Rhode Island's Coronavirus Hospitalizations Reach New Record High

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island reached another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday: exceeding 400 total hospitalizations for the first time.

As of Tuesday, 410 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state, breaking the previous record of 386 set just a few days before. At the peak of the first wave in the spring, 377 people were hospitalized, as of April 28.

The new record comes just one day after the state's field hospitals officially became operational, and the Cranston site accepted its first patients. Although the sites were built in the spring, they were not needed until now.

The state's weekly coronavirus trend data further illustrated the sharp increase in hospitalizations in the state, climbing to 384 new admissions in just one week. The overall percent positive rate creeped up, as well, reaching 6.9 percent in the past week. Only cases per 100,000 people decreased since the week before, dropping from 629 to 563. That number is still more than five times the safe threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 people, however, meaning all three indicators are still in the red zone.

Monday's daily percent positive rate was one of the highest for a single day, to date, at 9.5 percent from more than 10,000 tests conducted.

Monday also marked the beginning of Rhode Island's two-week "pause" an effort by Gov. Gina Raimondo to slow the spread of the virus in the state and keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed before the end of the year. If all Rhode Islanders do not take the pause seriously and avoid all social gatherings, hospitals will be overrun within weeks and there will not be enough staff to care for those who are sick, Raimondo said.

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