At his first COVID-19 briefing since taking his current office, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee stressed that Rhode Island's approach to vaccinations has greatly improved in the past few weeks, with the state's national ranking for per-population vaccinations improving from 50th to 7th.
During the weekly press conference by state leaders on Thursday, Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor announced that some COVID-19 related restrictions are being relaxed, effective Friday, March 5th:
- Gyms and fitness studios: Capacity limit raised to 1 person per 100 square feet (up from 125sf).
- Outdoor fitness classes: No limit on capacity, as long as participants can maintain 6 feet of distance from others
- Restaurants: 66% of seated capacity (up from 50%).Current restrictions for spacing remain in effect.
- Catered events: Capacity and guidelines will be revised on or around March 14th
- Dancing - new guidelines coming in the next month
- Funeral Homes: Capacity increased to 30 persons indoors, 50 persons outdoors (currently 15 indoor and 25 outdoors)
McKee and Pryor promised to readdress all restrictions within the next week.
photo: WJAR-TV video capture