COVID-19 Information for Healthcare Professionals
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Guidance for Congregate Living Settings
- Respiratory Virus Guidance for Congregate Living Settings. This guidance includes recommendations for long-term care facilities that provide skilled nursing care such as nursing homes, some assisted living residences, and healthcare professionals who work in those settings.
Outbreak Support and Education
RIDOH Outbreak Management System
- Report outbreaks of all respiratory viruses and noro-like illnesses at redcap.link/ridoh-reporting
- Respiratory Virus, Norovirus, and Outbreak Management System Training Slides (10/22/2025)
- Respiratory Virus, Norovirus, and Outbreak Management System Training Video (10/22/2025)
Healthcare professionals should assess whether the patient has risk factors that place them at higher risk for severe COVID-19. Consider outpatient treatment for patients at risk for progressing to severe disease, including older adults, people with weakened immune systems, or people with multiple comorbidities. Patients without these risk factors are less likely to substantially benefit from treatment, as their absolute risk of progression is low even without treatment.
Treatment must be started as soon as possible and within 5-7 days of symptom onset for patients at higher risk for severe COVID-19. Severe outcomes of COVID-19 include hospitalization, intensive care, ventilatory support, or death.
For some people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, ensitrelvir (XOCOVA) pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) medication is available for additional protection against COVID-19.
Outpatient Treatments for COVID-19
For patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at increased risk for progression to severe disease, nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) is the preferred oral antiviral treatment when clinically appropriate.
If nirmatrelvir-ritonavir is contraindicated, cannot be used because of significant drug interactions, or is otherwise inappropriate, remdesivir (Veklury) is the preferred alternative. Remdesivir is administered intravenously once daily for 3 consecutive days and should be initiated within the recommended treatment window.
Molnupiravir (Lagevrio) may be considered when neither nirmatrelvir-ritonavir nor remdesivir is appropriate. However, molnupiravir has demonstrated lower efficacy than the preferred antiviral options and should not be used during pregnancy.
Baricitinib and tocilizumab are not outpatient alternatives to antiviral therapy. They are immunomodulatory treatments used in selected hospitalized patients with severe or critical COVID-19, in conjunction with other appropriate therapies.
Paxlovid (oral antiviral)
Who: Paxlovid is available for outpatients age 12 and older who are diagnosed with COVID-19 and started having mild to moderate symptoms in the last 5 days. A positive COVID-19 test is not required to prescribe Paxlovid.
When: To make sure treatment is effective, it's important to start treatment as soon as possible. Healthcare professionals should encourage patients who are diagnosed with COVID-19 to learn about treatment options.
How: Paxlovid is available in certain pharmacies across the state.
Treatment Resources
- COVID-19 Treatment Clinical Care for Outpatients, CDC
- HHS Treatment Locator, HHS
- IDSA Guidelines on the Treatment and Management of Patients with COVID-19, IDSA
- Paxlovid – (age 12 or older) EUA | EUA Healthcare Professional Fact Sheet | EUA Patient Fact Sheet
- Paxlovid Patient Eligibility Screening Checklist Tool for Prescribers, FDA
Exposure and Isolation for Healthcare Workers
The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has developed guidance for healthcare workers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, flu, and other acute respiratory virus infections, regardless of whether diagnostic testing is performed or the results of such testing.
Recovery for Patients Experiencing Homelessness
Rhode Island Regional Access Points (RAPs) provide people and families at risk of homelessness or currently experiencing homelessness with centralized and easy-to-access entry points to housing-related services. Service availability may vary by location, and additional resources may be accessible depending on the region. These services may include:
- Case management
- Housing navigation
- Emergency shelter
- Mental health and substance use services
- Other critical support resources
For more information, visit the RAPs section of the Rhode Island Executive Office of Housing's Individuals Experiencing Homelessness webpage.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends reporting of MIS-C and MIS-A. Clinical criteria for each condition follows. Report cases to Rhode Island’s Center for Acute Infectious Disease Epidemiology by calling 401-222-2577 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If after hours, please call RIDOH’s answering service at 401-276-8046 to connect with the medical staff on call.
Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
MIS-C is a condition associated with infection from COVID-19. Clinical criteria for MIS-C diagnosis include:
- Younger than age 21 and
- Fever, laboratory evidence of inflammation, severe illness requiring hospitalization, multisystem organ involvement and
- No alternative plausible diagnosis and
- Positive for current or recent COVID-19 infection by RT-PCR, serology, or antigen test or exposure to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case within the 4 weeks before symptoms started
Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Adults (MIS-A)
MIS-A is a condition similar to MIS-C, but in adults. For the MIS-A case definition, providers can use either the same definition for MIS-C or the definition used in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) series.
The MIS-A case definition used in the report includes the following 5 criteria:
- Severe illness requiring hospitalization in a person age 21 or older and
- Positive test result for current or previous COVID-19 infection (nucleic acid, antigen, or antibody) during admission or in the previous 12 weeks and
- Severe dysfunction of one or more extrapulmonary organ systems (e.g., hypotension or shock, cardiac dysfunction, arterial or venous thrombosis or thromboembolism, or acute liver injury) and
- Laboratory evidence of severe inflammation (e.g., elevated CRP, ferritin, D-dimer, or interleukin-6) and
- Absence of severe respiratory illness (to exclude patients in which inflammation and organ dysfunction might be attributable simply to tissue hypoxia)
Long COVID
Long COVID, also known as Post-COVID Conditions, has been described as subacute and chronic multi-system post-infectious sequelae of acute COVID-19 infection. It's distinct from MIS-C and MIS-A.