statement, gov. mckee said he "regretfully accepted" alexander scott's resignation and called her "a steady, calm presence for rhode island as we've worked together to fight the covid-19 pandemic." january 14: rhode island surpasses 300,000 covid-19 cases. january 26: covid-19 hospitalizations are reported to have declined over a ten-day span from their omicron peak. february february 10: covid-19 cases in rhode island over a seven-day span are reported as 90% lower than their omicron peak. there were 368 new cases reported on feb. 9, compared to 3,614 on jan. 9. february 11 the mask or proof of vaccination requirements for entry into indoor venues and businesses is rescinded by gov. dan mckee. the mask mandate for rhode island public schools and state buildings such as the rhode island state house will expire on march 4. masks are still required on public transportation and taxis, and in transportation facilities, doctor's offices, nursing homes, assisted care facilities and hospitals. the rhode island state house of representatives and senate vote in favor of extending mckee's pandemic-related emergency powers for an additional 45 days. february 18 the rhode island department of health reports no covid-19 deaths for the first time since december 8. the new york times reports that rhode island has the lowest hospitalization rate of any of the 50 u.s. states. february 22 as of this date, 95% of rhode island's population has been at least partially vaccinated against covid-19. it is the third state to achieve this milestone. as of this date, 80% of rhode island's population has been fully vaccinated against covid-19. it is the second state to achieve this milestone. rhode island becomes the first state to have a testing rate of over 7 tests per person. as of this date, all other states have a testing rate of less than 6 tests per person. february 26: the vaccination site at the rhode island convention center closes. march march 1: rhode island marks two years since its first covid-19 case. march 4: with case and hospitalization numbers continuing to decline, gov. mckee and his administration announce a new system of measuring the risk of covid-19 transmission, adopted from the cdc. instead of community levels of covid-19 assessed on solely a case rate, the percentage of hospital beds occupied by covid-19 patients becomes an additional factor. as of this date, all five rhode island counties are able to be placed in the "low" community level, using the new guidelines. march 6: for the first time since early-august 2021, the number of hospitalizations due to covid-19 in any given day drops under 100. march 7: the mckee administration announced that as of this date, state-led testing sites will only test people who display covid-19-like symptoms or have been in close contact with someone that has tested positive for the virus. according to the mckee administration, this action is meant to "transition the management of covid-19" from a pandemic to an endemic. as of this date, the mask mandate for k-12 schools is terminated for all school districts except providence and central falls. march 12: the newport st. patrick's day parade is held for the first time in two years; the 2020 and 2021 editions had been canceled due to the pandemic. april april 11: rhode island reports the highest seven-day case rate of any state: about 172 cases per 100,000 people. the increase is attributed to the ba.2 subvariant of omicron, which has caused similar case increases in other northeastern states. the mask mandate for all providence public schools is terminated as of this date. april 5: ashish jha, the dean of the brown university school of public health in providence, begins his appointment as the white house coronavirus response coordinator as part of the white house covid-19 response team. jha's appointment had been announced on march 17 and he succeeded jeffrey zients in the role. april 15: four of rhode island's five counties: bristol, kent, newport, and washington, are reclassified into the "medium" level of covid-19 concern, as classified by the cdc. while hospitalization and fatality rates remain low in these counties, the case rate in each county had been over 200 cases per 100,000 people in the last week. april 19: both the rhode island public transit authority and t. f. green airport announce that mask-wearing will become optional, effective immediately. both of these decisions come after a federal judge in florida ruled that mask mandates in public transportation be revoked, citing that the cdc "did not follow proper rulemaking policies that left it fatally flawed". april 20: the rhode island department of health announces it will stop reporting positivity rates on its online covid dashboard. may may 6: 85 to 100 rhode islanders are reported to be hospitalized with covid-19, the highest number since early march. less than five of those patients required ventilators or intensive care. may 12: as covid cases rise across the united states due to omicron variants, rhode island and three other new england states are reported to have 50 or more new cases per 100,000 residents over the previous two weeks. may 16: following a rise in cases in densely populated central falls, joseph wendelken, a spokesman for the rhode island department of health, observed that covid-19 is now "an endemic disease" and said "we should expect moderate increases and decreases in our covid-19 levels over the coming months". he noted that vaccines, treatments and testing resources were now in ample supply and "we don't expect our case numbers and hospitalization numbers to reach the levels of january's surge." may 17: rhode island reports 1,047 new covid-19 cases, the first time single-day cases have totaled above 1,000 since february 2. may 19: the centers for disease control designates four of rhode island's five counties as having high levels of community spread. only newport county remains at the medium level. may 20: anthony fauci, the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases and the chief medical advisor to the president, delivers the commencement speech for the 2022 graduating class of roger williams university. due to travel commitments, fauci delivers his speech virtually instead of at the bristol campus. may 24: students and faculty of the providence school district return to a mask mandate for indoor school activities due to a sharp increase in the number of cases among students and staff. may 26: gov. mckee announces that the first federally funded "test-to-treat" clinic in the united states will open in providence. the clinic will provide prescriptions for paxlovid at no cost. four of rhode island's five counties are down-graded by the cdc from high covid-19 levels to medium levels; newport county is upgraded from medium to high. may 31: the number of covid-19 cases in rhode island drops from 77.4 per 100,000 people on may 18 to 47 per 100,000 on may 31. the providence public school system lifts the mask mandate implemented on may 24 following the cdc reducing the community covid-19 level of providence county to medium. june june 2: james mcdonald, the interim director of the rhode island department of health following the resignation of nicole alexander-scott in january, announces his departure from the department for family reasons effective july 29. the cdc downgrades newport county's covid-19 community levels from high to medium. all five of rhode island's counties have returned to the medium designation they were under before may 19. june 20: for the first time since mid-july 2021, there are no individuals on a ventilator due to covid-19. june 21: rhode island surpasses 400,000 covid-19 cases. august august 11: rhode island shifts away from updating covid-19 data daily, instead developing a weekly update on thursdays. this change is motivated by the cdc's decision to transition to a similar process. august 20: gov. mckee tests positive for covid-19, stating that he has "very minor" symptoms and will be working remotely for the next five days. statistics by county covid-19 pandemic in rhode island by county countycasesdeathsfatality rate (%) bristol county 16,522 186 1.13 kent county 59,411 528 0.89 newport county 24,598 99 0.4 providence county 259,278 2,613 1.01 washington county 40,068 251 0.63 as of october 15, 2022