Rhode Island’s restaurants will be able to welcome patrons for limited outdoor dining starting May 18, Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Monday, although there will be a host of associated requirements and restrictions.
“It’s top priority of mine to do all that we can to help this industry. Like everything else, it won’t be a flick of a switch,” the governor said during her daily briefing, held for the first time at The Vets in Providence – and, for the first time in many weeks, with reporters in the room to ask questions directly.
Raimondo said there were “no major problems” with social distancing compliance over the past weekend, even as the state’s stay-at-home order expired and non-essential retailers reopened to customers on a limited basis.
While some concerns remain over compliance with a new executive order requiring cloth-based nose and mouth coverings in public – particularly among customers at drive-thru windows, which the governor put at 75 percent based on observations by Department of Business Regulation inspectors – she said the weekend, coupled with “good news” seen in the latest COVID-19 data, provided the “confidence” needed to proceed with the outdoor dining plan, which had been teased last week.
She continued to stress, however, that the reopening process will unfold deliberately in hopes of avoiding any need to backtrack due to a surge in cases.
“Because we’ve really flattened the curve, because we’ve built up our system and have the infrastructure in place to take care of folks, now we’re in a very good position where we can start to slowly reopen our economy, slowly start to go back to work, back to shopping, and feel confident about that … It’s very important, though, that we go slow and we be cautious,” she said.
She added: “Don’t try to fight this. This virus is here, it’s powerful. We don’t have a cure, we don’t have a vaccine … Let’s look to adapt our way of doing things so that we can live safely with the virus. But we can’t try to outrun it, because we know that won’t work.”
Outdoor dining preview
A full set of rules and guidelines associated with the outdoor dining allowance was set to be posted online at reopeningri.com late Monday, Raimondo said. During her briefing, she provided an outline of what will be included.
Outdoor dining will be available through reservation only, and establishments will be required to maintain a 30-day log of customers and staff for use in any necessary contact tracing. Dining parties will be limited to a maximum of five people. Additionally, restaurants will be required to take health screening measures for patrons upon arrival – although there will be no particular method mandated, and the rule can be fulfilled through a step as simple as hanging a poster asking people to self-screen for symptoms.
“Please do not go dining if you feel sick. Actually, you shouldn’t be leaving your house at this point in time if you feel sick,” the governor said.
Regarding the screening requirement – which could range from the self-screening poster up to the administering of temperature checks – she added: “That’s up to the restaurant, but we don’t want anyone who feels sick to be in a restaurant.”
Tables will need to be at least 8 feet apart or, in lieu of that, separated by barriers. No more than 20 tables will be allowed in any outdoor space. Tables and chairs will need to be sanitized between each dining party.
Additionally, traditional menus will not be permitted, with restaurants advised to provide single-use paper menus or use digital or chalkboard menus. The new rules will also require that condiments and utensils be provided on a single-use basis or sanitized between uses.
Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said the wearing of face coverings, which “minimize the chance that respiratory droplets spread between people,” will be included in the outdoor dining plan. Officials are “exploring how we’re going to apply that here,” she said.
“You should be confident going out and going to restaurants for outdoor dining as well as to shops,” Alexander-Scott said. “We want you to be confident, but also not complacent.”
No self-serve food stations will be permitted as part of outdoor dining, and valet service will not be allowed. Cashless and no-contact payment methods will also be encouraged.
Raimondo said at the request of the hospitality industry, DBR and the League of Cities and Towns are working with city and town officials to develop streamlined permitting for outdoor dining and liquor sales. Additional details will be provided in the coming days, she said.
Asked if she plans on dining out after May 18, Raimondo said: “I do … I feel confident enough to do it. I’m going to do it, lead by example, and encourage other people to do it, too.”
By the numbers
Eight more Rhode Islanders have as a result of COVID-19, according to Monday’s data update from the Rhode Island Department of Health, bringing the state’s overall toll to 430.
Alexander-Scott said the new deaths include three people in their 60s, two people in their 70s, two people in their 80s and one person in their 90s.
An additional 176 Rhode Islanders have tested positive for COVID-19 – a figure that represents just more than 8 percent of the 2,119 new tests reported in Monday’s update. The state’s overall case count now stands at 11,450, while 81,992 of the 93,332 people tested to date have been negative.
As of Monday’s update, 276 Rhode Islanders were hospitalized due to COVID-19. Of those, 73 were in ICUs and 52 were intubated. Thus far, 841 people have been discharged from the state’s hospitals following treatment for the disease.
“We are moving in the right direction, but we are not out of the woods yet,” Alexander-Scott said.
New city and town case counts were provided Monday for the first time in a week, showing Providence continuing to have by far the most cases in the state with 3,719.
It is followed by Pawtucket (1,114 cases), Cranston (662), Central Falls (615), North Providence (587), East Providence (555), Warwick (446), Woonsocket (427), Cumberland (231), Smithfield (216), Johnston (212), West Warwick (199), North Kingstown (172), Coventry (134) and Lincoln (122).
Elsewhere during Monday’s briefing:
*Raimondo said she expects to have additional announcements soon regarding how federal stimulus funding will be used to provide support for the state’s business community. She said a new form on the reopeningri.com site will soon allow business owners to provide specific feedback and recommendations on how that assistance can best be provided.
“If you’re out there and you’re struggling … the best way we can help you is if you tell us exactly what your needs are,” she said.
*Asked about reports that additional federal stimulus to help states bridge yawning budget gaps may be delayed several weeks, Raimondo said she has heard from Trump Administration officials and members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation that an agreement on new assistance is in progress and should be expected within just a few weeks.
If additional aid is delayed, however, the governor said the results would be “devastating” for Rhode Island and other states around the country.
“It is my strong position that Rhode Island absolutely needs another round of stimulus,” she said.
*Raimondo said she expects additional announcements soon in terms of summer camps and youth sports programs. “My goal is to enable as much summer camp and youth sports as possible,” she said.
*A number of state parks reopened on a limited basis over the weekend, and the governor said she intends to continue with a gradual reopening of parks and beaches in the weeks to come.
Asked about city and town parks, she said: “It would be my hope that they would follow our lead … At the end of the day, it’s up to the mayor to do what he or she feels is right for their city.”
*Raimondo said she expects to have additional guidance for faith communities in the weeks to come, specifically focused on allowing for in-person worship to resume. Presently, faith-based gatherings are limited to no more than five people, while there is a 10-person limit for attendance at funerals.
“It’s a couple of weeks away. It’s going to happen in the month of May. And we’re just being cautious,” she said, adding that faith leaders have expressed that “they want to go slow as well.”
*Ahead of and during Monday's briefing, a demonstration was held outside the State House in opposition to the ongoing social distancing restrictions. Radio host John DiPietro broadcast live from the gathering, which drew roughly 50 people.
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Straightnnarrow
We were told 6-8 weeks ago that we have to lock down the state to enable the front line health personnel to get a handle on those that were infected with the Wuhan virus and to "flatten the curve" to prevent the situation from getting out of control. Emergency field hospitals were constructed; elective medical procedures were postponed etc, all of which seemed reasonable at the time. As it turned out, the emergency hospitals did not need to be utilized; the equipment and protective gear is at hand, and it seems that the virus situation is manageable, although still dangerous because we could still be infected, and yes, many persons are sadly dying from this virus.
However, the stated emergency is over and we have met the objective of making it manageable, so it is time to open up the state, and if it gets out of control, then we will do what is required. But it seems that this Governor has hijacked this emergency and now feels that it is her duty to keep us from getting sick, period, and issues ridiculous orders requiring face masks in public outdoors, preventing restaurants from opening their businesses, quarantining us if we go to Seekonk on an errand etc. and they will only fill us with contempt for this governor and her team. These orders go beyond the mandate of the original emergency and should be terminated immediately and allow citizens to get on with their lives.
Monday, May 11, 2020 Report this
Drew
My buddy Coach from Cranston can't wait for restaurants to open. He's kind of a big deal at the local oyster bars.
Monday, May 11, 2020 Report this
perky4175
gina is a joke she couldnt even look reporters in the face she kept rolling her eyes and did a lot of fidgeting thats because shes a liar and her figures are way off she should be investagated by the fbi for misuse of the money intended for the virus she shouldnt be handing money out to the undocumented aliens she should have ice here to deport them
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 Report this
KimLorene
She couldn't handle live questions. She is a liar and a fraud. The original 'emergency' is over...open the damn economy.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 Report this
JohnStark
We needed to "flatten the curve" in order to avoid overwhelming hospitals. Done, and most citizens shrugged their shoulders and went along. But like most government edicts, this one has metastasized beyond all recognition. If you doubt it, please consider that the state's 'temporary' sales tax started at 1%. In 1947. The virus has actually done what Democrats have attempted but failed to do: Undermine an increasingly popular president, wreck a thriving economy, and increase government dependency. Just a final question that stands no hope of being asked: In addition to nursing home residents, what percent of cases come from those in the country illegally? As we do nothing to quarantine those most at-risk, while simultaneously quarantining the healthy, perhaps the governor could provide a more transparent and focused analysis of who's actually getting sick, politically incorrect though it may be. I won't hold my breath.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 Report this
Straightnnarrow
As her wooden Highness is taking questions, how about asking her how many beautiful state workers have been laid off and let's see if we get a real answer?
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 Report this
bill123
the press conference they don’t want you to see (or honest reporters who exist only in fiction)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfEyP-ksbo8&t=21m41s
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 Report this
bill123
The era of the truth-seeking reporter is over. As a reporter, you either declare yourself against Trump, or stay silent, if you want to keep your job. You report verbatim whatever the state (other than Trump) says, softening and making more pleasant sounding as necessary, asking no deep questions. This is the model of the Chinese communist party. It’s now here in the USA.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 Report this
Thecaptain
Just curious. How do the chefs and the kitchen staff social distance? Do we now have a kitchen cop?
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 Report this
Honestinfo
Robbie Robbie Robbie
Always gotta be a punk troublemaker @#$& *&$
Thursday, May 14, 2020 Report this
Warwickbeautiful
With the city council meetings not being held in person for the foreseeable future, the unemployed and bored captain criminal only has the comment section of the Beacon to spew his useless drivel and keep himself amused. Maybe he could occupy all of his free time going over to the Oakland Beach shack of Johnny Pajamas and hang out with him and Stacia while they continue their online mutual admiration society on Stacia's irrelevant Facebook page.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 Report this
thepilgrim
Rhode Islanders who follow these unconstitutional orders are weak and cowardly.
Friday, May 15, 2020 Report this
perky4175
thats right sit out side germs will be going every where with a light breeze perfect way to infect every one
Tuesday, May 19, 2020 Report this