RI's Weekly COVID-19 Press Conferences Returning To State House

PROVIDENCE, RI — This is the last week Gov. Dan McKee and other state leaders will hold their coronavirus pandemic news conference at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Starting in June, the weekly event will again be held at the State House.

This week's conference will be held at The Vets at 1 p.m. on Thursday, as has been the case for months. Starting June 7, the conferences will again be held in the State House, and will move to every other week, instead of weekly.

There will be no news conference on May 27.

The change comes as Rhode Island returns to 100 percent capacity indoors starting May 21, and lifts mask requirements Tuesday.

Gov. Dan McKee first referenced the coming change May 6.

"We look forward to bringing this press conference back to the State House," he said at the time, thanking the staff of The Vets for their partnerships over the past months.

Coronavirus pandemic briefings have become a part of everyday life in Rhode Island since last spring, initially held daily with then-Gov. Gina Raimondo and Rhode Island Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott at the State House. Because of social distancing requirements, these conferences were closed to the media, with reporters able to submit questions online, that were read to the governor.

The conferences were later moved to The Vets, which allowed members of the media to attend while maintaining distance from each other.