By WPRO News & The Associated Press
Rhode Island officials say roughly 200 people have been quarantined because they have connections to a school trip to Italy that has so far resulted in three cases of the new coronavirus.
Gov. Gina Raimondo also said in her Thursday briefing about new measures to respond to the virus’s spread that a team from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been deployed to Rhode Island and that officials will be opening additional coronavirus testing sites across the state.
Meanwhile, St. Raphael Academy, a Roman Catholic school in Pawtucket, says it will remain closed another week.
In a nearly hour-long briefing in which she was joined by her Directors of Health and Administration, Raimondo:
Asked schools and colleges to cancel overseas trips.
Asked employers to allow people to work from home, if possible.
Urged people to refrain from visiting hospitals or nursing homes to curtail the spread of the virus.
She said the Department of Health has established a 24-hour hotline, 401-222-8022, and urged people to call if they have questions about coronavirus.
Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott urged people who believe they have symptoms of coronavirus not to walk in to hospitals, health facilities or even doctors’ offices, but to call ahead and follow instructions about how to get examined.
Also, any state employees who have traveled to China, Iran, Italy, South Korea, or Japan are being directed to contact the state Department of Health, and are being told to self-quarantine until they show no sign of the virus for at least 14 days.
