Latest Alerts & Guidance

The statewide school mask requirement expired as of March 4. Decisions about masking can now be made by a town, city, or school administration.

The expiration of the requirement empowers schools to implement the health and safety measures best suited to the needs of their communities.

For more information, read the full announcement.

The Rhode Island Department of Health is implementing a new COVID-19 risk assessment based on updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The guidance measures risk on a county by county basis. Rhode Island is currently considered a low-risk area. For more information, please visit CDC’s web page COVID-19 Community Levels.

To search for your county, use the COVID-19 County Check tool.

If you test positive for COVID-19, are age 12 or older, and have mild to moderate symptoms, call your healthcare provider right away and ask about treatment. Treatment is most important if you are at high risk of becoming very sick from COVID-19. The earlier you start treatment, the more effective it is.

COVID-19 vaccine is now one of the many vaccines that healthcare providers and healthcare workers are required to receive. Rhode Island regulations (216-RICR-20-15-8) require that healthcare providers and healthcare workers have received a complete series of COVID-19 vaccine (one dose of Johnson & Johnson, two doses of Pfizer or Moderna) by October 1, 2021.  

For more information on the regulation, actions healthcare facilities need to take, and answers to frequently asked questions, please visit this page (covid.ri.gov/vaxrequirement).

If you have a question that is not captured in the current Frequently Asked Questions document, please send us a message. Legal questions may not be answered as facilities and employees should review legal questions internally with their legal counsel. 

Third doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are available to certain Rhode Islanders who are moderately to severely immunocompromised.

If you are eligible, you can get your third dose at any of the places where vaccine is currently available.

Eligible people should get their third dose at least 28 days after their second dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

For more information on getting a third dose, visit COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs.

Everyone age 12 or older who has already received a primary series of COVID-19 vaccine should get a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine. 

Please note that only the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for use by people younger than 18. This means that people age 16 and 17 must choose the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for their booster dose. 

For more recommendations and information, visit covid.ri.gov/boosterdoses.

For CDC COVID-19 booster dose guidelines, visit CDC's booster web page. 

For the best protection against COVID-19 and its variants, stay up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines. Being “up to date” with your COVID-19 vaccines means that you have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including booster doses when eligible. COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are different for different people and depend on age, health status, and when you were first vaccinated. Please see CDC guidance for more information: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html   

Many Rhode Islanders living in specific geographies have experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths throughout the pandemic. Such differences are directly connected to the social conditions in which some communities of color are more likely to live and work every day, and to systems of structural racism and discrimination that have historically undermined the health and well-being of these communities. 

RIDOH believes reaching high vaccination rates across all individuals and communities regardless of ZIP code is key to saving lives and achieving broader population immunity. Learn about Rhode Island's Hard-Hit Community Vaccination Strategy.  

Monday – Sunday: 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Phone: 401-222-8022
After hours: Call 211

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