January 2021

Happy New Year everyone! We are still living in a time of huge changes, lots of uncertainty, and there is also a lot of positive in that.

The world has seen a huge increase in travel over the holidays, as predicted. 85.2 Million people infected, with 1.84 million deaths, worldwide. Rhode Island’s rates have also spiked, nearing 90,000 infected, and close to 2,000 deaths to date. Rhode Island is at 8.72% positivity rate, today.

One favorite photo from the BI Time’s in 2020, is the Covid vaccine being delivered by Billy McCombe to Dr. Warcup at the Medical Center. This is a strong community to make this happen. It was a difficult season for the island volunteer rescue, everyone at the Medical Center, the police, and the EMT’s. They faced first hand the brunt edge of tourism during the 2020 summer season. The community, including the entire hospitality community, took risks on a daily basis to keep businesses afloat. We are all interdependent on one another and grateful for one another. Somehow, during the pandemic crisis, there was still some reckless behavior on the island. The sheer abundance of moped accidents took a toll and we hope new restrictions will be enacted and enforced. As we dream into the future, and a new season ahead, we hope it will be better for everyone.