All of Rhode Island Now Considered Medium-Risk Area

Providence, Bristol, Kent, Newport, and Washington Counties are now considered medium-risk areas according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels risk assessment. CDC determines risk level using three metrics: new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.

CDC determines risk level using three metrics: new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.

If you are in a medium-risk area, RIDOH recommends taking additional precautions, including:

• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

• If you are immunocompromised or high risk, have a plan for testing and talk to your healthcare provider about protecting yourself.

• If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk, consider self-testing and wearing a mask when indoors with them.

• When indoors in crowded settings, consider wearing a mask regardless of vaccination status. This is especially important for people who are immunocompromised.

• Get tested if you have symptoms or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

If you test positive:

• Talk to your doctor about treatment

• Stay home and use this calculator to determine how long you need to quarantine or isolate

• Use the RIDOH COVID-19 Survey to let people you were with know you tested positive.

• If you test yourself for COVID-19 at home, report your result to RIDOH at portal.ri.gov/s/selftest.

CDC’s full set of recommendation is available online.

Resources for Healthcare Professionals

Healthcare Professional Pages

Vaccine Information for Patients, Healthcare Providers, and Healthcare Facilities

Nursing Home COVID-19 Isolation Unit

In December 2021, due to the growing number of COVID-19 positive cases and hospitalizations, RIDOH posted an opportunity for supplemental funding for nursing facilities with established designated isolation spaces that could accept COVID-19 positive patients via hospital discharge in order to expand access to nursing facility care for individuals no longer requiring a hospital level of care. We currently have two nursing homes that are providing this vital service. Because there continue to be more patients who require this level of discharge and given that Executive Order 22-07 was posted on Friday, RIDOH is re-opening this opportunity on a rolling basis to solicit additional nursing homes for this opportunity. The two currently available nursing homes are in Woonsocket and Providence. RIDOH is particularly interested in expanding the geographic diversity of the available nursing homes with COVID+ isolation units, to better support the hospitals and patients’ families, though any nursing home interested in participating is eligible to apply.

Isolation spaces in facilities are intended to provide short-term nursing facility services to COVID-19-positive residents no longer needing a hospital level of care, while ensuring all necessary precautions are taken to protect other, uninfected nursing facility residents from exposure. In order to qualify to receive a supplemental payment to operate a COVID-19 positive isolation space, a nursing facility provider must meet the substantive criteria established in this Program Guidance document and submit an attestation of compliance with such substantive criteria in the form and manner specified herein. Please note, in order to be eligible, the nursing home must have not had any immediate jeopardy incidents since January 1, 2021.

This Program will distribute up to $200,000 in funding to approved nursing facilities to supplement the costs required to increase access to care for individuals no longer requiring a hospital level of care by admitting them to isolation spaces in nursing facilities during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

RIDOH has been authorized to distribute funds for up to ten (10) Program Applicants (including the two already in service) in a lump sum upon receipt of a completed Subaward Agreement. Each participating facility will receive $20,000 per increment of five (5) dedicated beds in an isolation space for the distinct purpose of providing care in an isolation unit for COVID-19 positive residents being discharged from hospitals for 30 days (e.g., a facility would receive $20,000 per month for five dedicated beds for COVID-positive hospital discharges, $40,000 per month for ten dedicated beds, etc.).

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please allow up to ten (10) business days for review. Following review, RIDOH will notify approved nursing homes in writing and nursing homes will have up to ten (10) business days from the date of approval to begin accepting residents.
The lump sum payment for the number of approved beds will be disbursed to facilities through the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) on the next standard nursing home payment cycle through Gainwell.

View Application Program Guidance