“Everything’s on the table”: Mckee addresses possible return of an indoor mask mandate

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE)- With Rhode Island COVID case and hospitalization rates being the highest since the beginning of the year, talk of mandates and restrictions once again circulating in Rhode Island.

According to Rhode Island’s Department of Health, the state’s 7 day case average stand at 853.

Currently there are 203 people in the hospital and 29 in the ICU.

Given these numbers….

Could mask mandates make a comeback?

“Well I think everything is on the table, I think we need to learn more about the new variant and how difficult that’s going to be on us. Initial reports are not as extreme as for what was projected in terms of a worst case scenario. So, we’re going to look at that and see where we’re going in terms of infection rates as well,” Gov. Daniel Mckee said.

The Omicron variant has already been detected in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

With it only being a matter of time before this variant arrives in Rhode Island, Gov. Mckee says if you haven’t gotten your booster shot, now is the time to do so.

“We may have one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, but if we don’t get the booster shots in a timely way then we’re going to lose that spot and that’s going to cause some problems.”

Currently, about 73% of the states population is fully vaccinated.