RI scrambling to address Latino covid disparities, highlights arts

Governor Gina Raimondo gives a recent COVID-19 update with Nicole Alexander-Scott, Dept of Health Director (left) and Dept of Administration director Brett Smiley (right). File / pool photo by Kris Craig / The Providence Journal

The Associated Press

The disproportionate number of Latino residents of Rhode Island infected with the coronavirus is “deeply concerning,” and the state is making efforts to address it, Gov. Gina Raimondo said Saturday.

The state is reaching out to the Latino community through press releases in Spanish, Spanish-language radio announcements and working with leaders in the community, she said.

The Democratic governor also encouraged Rhode Islanders to lift each other’s spirits through the creation and sharing on social media of creative pieces using the hashtag #RIArts.

She also unveiled a work of art created by renowned artist Shepard Fairey meant to inspire, called “ Rhode Island Angel of Hope and Strength.”

Fairey is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.

The piece “is meant to both celebrate the courage of health care workers specifically, and generally symbolize the spirit of hope, strength, compassion, and resilience that we can all summon in ourselves and share collectively,” Fairey said in a statement released by the governor’s office.

 

Artist Shepard Fairey designed this artwork entitled “Rhode Island Angel of Hope and Strength” to pay tribute to frontline workers. Credit: Shepard Fairey / RIArts.org

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About 150 people calling themselves Rhode Islanders Against Excessive Quarantine protested what they called the “irreparable damage being caused by the statewide business shutdown, and the indiscriminately applied stay at home advisory” on the State House steps Saturday.

About half a dozen nurses wearing masks staged a counterprotest.

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The new coronavirus has claimed another 13 lives in Rhode Island, bringing the state’s death toll from the pandemic to 215, the state Department of Health reported Saturday.

There were 430 news cases of the disease, for a total of more than 7,100 positive cases, the agency said. There are currently 263 people hospitalized with the disease.

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MASSACHUSETTS

A Massachusetts factory that normally makes some of the nation’s most beloved board games, including Monopoly, Risk and Candyland, has pivoted to making personal protective equipment for heath care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Charlie Baker said Saturday.

The Cartamundi-owned Hasbro factory is making 50,000 face shields per week for hospitals in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the Republican said after a tour of the East Longmeadow facility.

Making games and making personal protective equipment have the same goal, President and COO John Frascotti said.

“It is our job to make the world a better place for children and their families,” he said.

Baker also said an investigation into the high number of COVID-19-related deaths at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home is progressing, but there is no timetable for completion.

Former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein has “free reign” to conduct his investigation, Baker said.

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State health officials on Saturday announced an additional 174 coronavirus deaths, pushing the state’s total to more than 2,700.

The state also also reported nearly 2,400 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total number of reported cases to more than 53,000.

 

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