Edit: Expanding on my initial thoughts.

I agree with this. Also, if these New Yorkers had the forethought to take advantage and get out of a densely populated area to avoid exposure, chances are they’d continue to social distance and take precautions while they were here in RI. It’s the people who didn’t take precautions that were the issue, like the RI residents protesting at the statehouse refusing to wear masks and hosting parties just to spite everyone…

However, I have to believe part of the reason we ended up suffering so badly in the late summer and fall of 2020 was because we effectively reopened the state too early and became flooded with tourists from hotspot areas. We were doing really well before that. I recall seeing far more out-of-state plates than usual—not just in Narragansett and Newport, but even Oakland Beach in Warwick was overrun. There were posts about it in this sub at the time, too.

Of course, that’s not the only reason. It also didn’t help that hospital administrators across the state refused to make any adaptations for the second wave that we all knew was coming, but that’s a whole other issue…