Some Rhode Island Counties Now Considered Medium-Risk Areas
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.
If you are in a medium-risk area, CDC advises taking additional precautions, including:
• If you are immunocompromised or high risk, have a plan for testing and talk to your healthcare provider about treatment and whether you should wear a mask.
• If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk, consider self-testing and wearing a mask when indoors with them.
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.
CDC’s full set of recommendations is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/community-levels.html.