Rhode Island’s COVID-19 data reporting will go into effect next week. We will be transitioning from reporting COVID-19 data Monday through Friday to reporting data weekly, on Thursday afternoons. Other states have already moved in this direction. (For example, Massachusetts transitioned to weekly reporting in early July.) And the CDC is on a weekly reporting cadence for its assessment of community risk levels by county. This change is reflective of the larger shift Rhode Island has made from a pandemic response to endemic management, informed by COVID-19 data trends over a period of weeks. However, our data team and COVID-19 leadership team will still be reviewing hospitalization trends and other key metrics daily to monitor for any significant shifts. We have the ability to move back to daily reporting, should it be warranted at any point in the future.    

 

One last note on these monkeypox vaccination clinics this weekend. Pre-registration is required. All appointments have been taken. There is no vaccine at these clinics for walk-ups. Eligible people can get on a notification list for when additional vaccine comes into Rhode Island through a link on this page: health.ri.gov/monkeypox

 

Joseph Wendelken | Public Information Officer

Rhode Island Department of Health

 

 

The FBI is working with colleges to warn of antisemitic threats of violence. That comes as campus protests pop up across the country over the Israel-Hamas war. FBI Director Christopher Wray told NBC News the agency doesn't directly track university protests, but is giving schools information to deal with potential threats.       Former President Trump returns to court in New York City this morning for his criminal hush money trial. Trump faces felony charges of falsifying business records to cover up payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair.       The Biden administration is making a preliminary agreement with semiconductor maker Micron, another investment through the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. The President will announce the six-billion-dollar deal with the Idaho company today in Syracuse, New York. The money will go to support two chip manufacturing hubs in New York and Idaho.        Google has fired another 20 employees for their involvement in protests over its dealings with Israel. The tech giant has a cloud computing contract with the Israeli military, and pro-Palestinian workers have been staging sit-ins and other forms of protest. This brings the total number of employees fired over the matter to fifty.        A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President Harris has been hospitalized after showing what is being described as "distressing behavior" Monday morning. The incident took place at Joint Base Andrews, with Harris not present at the time. According to CBS News, the agent was speaking incoherently, eventually physically provoking another officer.        A Beatles guitar that's been missing for over 50 years has been discovered in the attic of a British house. Julien's Auctions says the 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar is the same one John Lennon played on classics like "Norwegian Wood," and he can be seen playing the guitar in the movie "Help!"