PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Some CVS and Walgreens pharmacy locations in Rhode Island started COVID-19 vaccine distribution over the weekend, but there were some glitches.
Customers in Rhode Island reported issues Sunday during the online registration process, WJAR-TV reported. Some CVS customers said they were prompted to book appointments out of state, even though they’re only eligible for vaccines in Rhode Island.
CVS said it was working to fix the issue.
“We are aware of this scheduling issue and are in the process of resolving it,” CVS said in a statement. “We are committed to following state eligibility requirements for vaccinations and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
For now, only CVS locations in Providence and Johnston are vaccinating eligible Rhode Islanders.
Walgreens said it also resolved glitches in its registration system.
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WEEKEND UPDATE
The Rhode Island Department of Health on Monday reported more than 1,200 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 24 more virus-related deaths over the past three days.
That pushed the overall number of known cases in the state since the start of the pandemic to more 119,000, and the number of fatalities to 2,236.
The number of people in the state’s hospitals with COVID-19 dropped to 241 as of Saturday, the latest day for which the information was available, down from 288 three days ago.
The department does not update its numbers on the weekend.
The latest seven-day average positivity rate in Rhode Island is about 3%, down from 4% two weeks ago. State health departments are calculating positivity rate differently across the country, but for Rhode Island the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test encounters using data from The COVID Tracking Project.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Rhode Island has now plummeted from 747 on Jan. 24 to 312 on Sunday, The COVID Tracking Project reported.
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TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS LIFTED
People visiting Rhode Island from New York, Indiana and Wisconsin are no longer subject to the state’s COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The state on Monday updated its travel advisory list to remove those three states, meaning visitors or Rhode Islanders returning from those states no longer have to quarantine or provide a negative coronavirus test upon arrival, WPRI-TV reported.
The list now consists of 30 states, with New Hampshire being the only New England state remaining.
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