EMS Practitioners

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.

EMS Practitioners

Emergency Medical Service (EMS) practitioners should refer to this page for COVID-19 information and guidance. Practitioners should also consult the latest EMS provider advisories from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and RIDOH, as well as CDC’s guidance for healthcare workers. For the latest information on Rhode Island specific COVID-19 numbers, please see the Rhode Island Department of Health's (RIDOH) COVID-19 Data Tracker.

Returning to Work

EMS practitioners who test positive for COVID-19, can end isolation and leave home if they:

Have no symptoms, or their symptoms have improved and;

Are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and;

Did not have severe illness

If they test positive and are moderately to severely ill with COVID-19, they should isolate at least 10 days and consult their primary care physician (PCP). If they test positive but never have symptoms, they should isolate for 5 days from the date that they were tested. If they are immunocompromised, they should isolate at least 10 days and consult their PCP.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

PPE consists of respirators (N-95 masks), facemasks (surgical masks), face shields and other eye protection, gowns, and gloves.

Educational videos on PPE produced by the Rhode Island Disaster Medical Assistance Team (RI-DMAT):

All of Rhode Island Now Considered Medium-Risk Area

Returning to Work

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

EMS Protocols

Publications and Resources for EMS Providers

Factsheets

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)PDF file

Videos