Type of Intervention: Guidance
Sectors Involved: Health, Local Government
Intervention Categories: Planning and strategy; Creation of or release of plans
Level of Jurisdiction: Rhode Island
Lead People/Agency: Governor Gina M. Raimondo and Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH)
Overview: The Governor laid out four different metrics, in addition to the state’s operational response, that officials are tracking as they consider moving between phases of reopening. These include the following:
– Hospital Capacity: If the state continues to see less than 70% of ICU and non-ICU beds filled by COVID-19 patients, that is an indicator that it is safe to continue moving forward. However, if 85% or more of these beds are filled, either in overall hospital capacity or specifically in the ICU, it may be time to scale back.
– Hospitalizations: Right now, Rhode Island is consistently seeing fewer than 30 new COVID-19 related hospitalizations per day. If that trend continues, that is an indicator that reopening can move forward. But if that number is consistently above 50, it may signal a need to go back.
– Rate of spread: This is measured using the “R value,” or the “effective reproduction rate.” This is how many people are infected by each infected person. If the R value continues to be around 1.1 or lower, then it will be safe to think about moving into the next phase. If the R value gets to 1.3 or higher Rhode Island may have to move back a phase.
– Doubling rate of current hospitalizations: Currently, hospitalizations are stable or declining. If the state starts seeing a doubling within twenty days or less, that will be an indicator that it may be time to put restrictions back in place.
Full details here: https://www.ri.gov/press/view/38350
Type of Justification: No justification given