Through your senior year in high school, and we both want to thank you. We have two teenagers at home ourselves. Mr. Moffit we do. [laughter] gov. Raimondo and, like many of you, we are living the ups and downs of Distance Learning and being stuck at home. I hope today provides you the opportunity to tune in and get some of your questions answered, and if nothing else, just realize that theres a lot of kids out there who are in a situation just like yours. This is not going perfectly or easily for anybody. Some days are good. Some days arent too good. And overall, youre doing an unbelievable job. But its a hard time. And so we just have to stick with it a day at a time and do the best we can every day. Just like last time, i want to begin with a huge thank you to our teachers. Hats off to the teachers and all the educators and coaches and principals and superintendents. Mr. Moffit yeah, its really incredible. Gov. Raimondo it is incredible. I mean, rhode island is a shining star across america for the success that were having with Distance Learning. I wasnt sure if we would be able to pull this off when we started, and it has gone better than anyone expected. I also want to thank all the parents out there and aunts and uncles and grandparents who are going along with this, with the children in your house. Like andy and i i know its not easy. Sometimes the kids get frustrated. We dont this as kids, so thank you for your patience. But most of all, i want to say thank you to the kids. Youre incredible. Youre being creative. Youre rolling with it. I know it is hard. You dont get to see your friends. Play sports, to and that kind of stinks. And so i just want to say im sorry it has to be this way. It is this way so we can keep you healthy and safe. I really hope were going to be able to open school in september just the way we normally would, and until then, were just asking you to stick with it. We just have another month or so to go, so stick with it. Get it your all, finish strong. Thats just so important. Like in gymnastics, stick the landing. We want you guys to stick with it for until the end of school. We have a couple of quick announcements, and then ill turn it over to andy. One is some kids out there are still struggling, we know, with not enough wifi. Maybe there are three or four kids in the house trying to learn. You only have one computer. Theres not enough internet in the house for everybody to be working at the same time. So i want to promise you that were going to keep doing more until everybody has what they need to do the schoolwork in the in their house. If youre struggling at home, if you dont have a good enough computer, you cant get your schoolwork done, let your teacher know. Because if your teacher knows, he or she can tell us. About a week or so ago, we heard from a couple of School Districts that some kids are struggling. So we said, lets do something about it. The Rhode Island Foundation said they would give 100,000 grant if other people matched that grant. And people did. 70 people wrote in and said we we want to give money to match the grant. There are two that i want to call out specifically. Cvs health donated 150,000 to the one socket education Woonsocket Education Department for the purchase of 750 chromebooks for students in grades three through five. So way to go. Way to go, cvs. Way to go Rhode Island Foundation. And then Brown University donated 100,000 to the Providence School district to support interact access for 900 students for the next year. So were getting this done together. And i hope thank you to brown so much. Thank you to cvs so much. And to all the kids that will benefit from that, i hope it makes your life easier and school a little bit more fun. Last thing i want to say is this i know some people are struggling more than others. Were all struggling for being cooped up in our houses. And maybe youre mommy or dad has lost their job during this. Maybe youre cramped up in a small house. A few kids, parents. One bathroom. It is not always fun. Maybe your parents are extra stressed out. Maybe they lost their job. Theres a lot of people going through that right now, so if youre hearing me say that, i want you to know that were not alone. And we are going to try every day to make things better for you. But if you feel unsafe at home, or somebodys hurting you at home, i want you to let your teacher know or let one of the adults in your life who you know loves you know, because thats not ok. And we want to make sure we get you some help. Also, if youre feeling really anxious or depressed or scared , and you are just really struggling with this emotionally, than we want to help you with that, too. Weve set up a whole new system called kids link, which is designed to help Kids Mental Health services that they need to provide you with support. That phone number is 18555435465. So you could call yourself, you know, if youre a teenager or old enough or if youre a parent or teacher hearing me say that, and you have a kid in your life who is really struggling, dont be shy. Do not be shy. We set up kids link because we know that everybodys going through something right now. 8555435465. Mr. Moffit thank you, dear. Its such an important thing. Its really nice to be back here. Frankly, its nice to be back anywhere outside of my house. I think today was one of the first times ive gotten in my car in a really long time. So for a lot of you who are out there watching, working from home, im right there with you. This is a nice opportunity to get out. And frankly, it is nice to be invited back. You never know how this goes. Friend of mine said, after watching last time, dont quit your day job. So im flattered that you guys asked me back. I wanted to talk about the questions from the wonderful students across rhode island. I just want to talk about the topic of Mental Health and Emotional Health and how youre feeling. I want to speak first to the kids who are watching out there today. Its ok if youre not feeling ok. In fact, most of us arent. You know, this is a time of great uncertainty, anxiety. You know concern for safety. ,this is out of our normal rhythms and routines. So that is ok. And to the parents out there, it is really important to talk about it. You know, we have to acknowledge and think about how difficult this is, how difficult it can be. We dont have all the answers. We can certainly assure everyone that with this state and this Leadership Team and all the parents who are out there are , we are working very hard to make sure that you, the , your lovedur kids ones are a save as possible. We are making sure and thats a really important thing. But as part of that, talking about it, the great folks at Bradley Hospital and the clinicians who train the kids link service, have created a new free coloring book, particularly the earliest grades, called coloring my way. Its learning about coronavirus. This is rizzo raccoon. She goes through this whole process and its really great. You can go through this, read the stories with your parents or kids, you can read it to your parents. It talks about all these different motions that you might be feeling. The uncertainty, the anxiety, the confusion. This can be downloaded. I know a lot of schools are passing this out as a work sheet that might be going home in school. It can be downloaded at Bradley Hospital. And its done both in english and in spanish. And its a great opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about the kinds of feelings you might be having and refer back to them when those things get difficult. I just want to say, before we get to the question, that its really important for you to take care of yourself. For the kidside, ou gina said, for the kids out there, Say Something to your parents. Theyre probably on. Theres this coloring book. Theres one way to get started. So with that, lets jump to the questions the student journalists who were out there, again, we received thousands of these. Its wonderful, the curiosity, the honesty that students across exhibiting them questions. Gina, question number one. Tegan is a preschool student in South Kingston who asked why does my mask have to be on when im going somewhere . Very smart prek student. Gov. Raimondo very smart prek student. Tegan, im glad you have a mask. That makes me very happy. The best way to spread this disease, the way that it spreads the most, is when people sneeze or cough. So the virus is inside of inside of, you know, inside of your mouth, inside of your nose, and when you sneeze, the mask prevents the virus from spreading. By wearing your mask, it opportunity prevent you from getting sick, but it prevents you from spreading it to anyone else. We have our masks, our kids our have a mask. It is a little weird to wear them. Its hard to breathe. It gets hot if you wear them for a long time. Fewer people t get sick. Sneezing, you are make sure you sneeze into your elbow, and cover your mouth when you cough. Mr. Moffit and youll see in the color book, rizzo does that and its a little bit like dabbing. Lets go to gabriella. Gaby asked a really good question. Can we make signs to cheer up when people walk by . Yes, i would love if you did that. Send me a sign. Gabriella, send us a sign. Youre in second grade in warwick. Im asking you maybe have your whole class do it. You could ask your teacher to arrange this. Draw me a special sign and send it to me. And ill put it up at my window. At the statehouse. But its a great thing to do. And to the rest of the kids out there, i want you to try to do one thing every day to cheer somebody up. By the way, all of the adults out there should be doing this, too. Just one act of kindness every day. Send somebody a funny text. Draw somebody a funny picture. Say i thank you. I love you. Just try once a day to do one thing that will cheer somebody else up. Mr. Moffit and tegan, im sorry, gabriella, when gina comes home, i try to be there. Im working from home. I probably should have some signs that says welcome home. For so many parents out there who are working on the front line, you know, surveying in hospitals or in Healthcare Settings or Grocery Stores all , of us owe you a debt of gratitude. If you want to thank them, i think that would be a really, really nice gesture. All right. Liliana, fourth grader. Providence. Gov. Raimondo hi, liliana. Mr. Moffit liliana asks, im really looking forward to summer camp. Im wondering how camp will be different in this year from last year. Liliana. Our kids are looking gov. Raimondo thank you, liliana. Our kids are looking forward to their camps, too. So im not sure exactly how camps will be different, but they will be different. Were not going to be allowed to get together in big groups of people. I am not sure what kind of camp youre used to doing. We want to get together in small groups this summer. 10 kids, 15 kids. Small groups of people. And also were going to try to have a lot more virtual after camps and cool, new activities. So were work really hard every day, so that you can have some camps this summer. Sports camps, outdoor camps, learning camps. Im going to make sure there are camps. They are going to be under new rules and restrictions. Were going to have to wash our hands more. Were going to have to wear our masks. You might have to take your temperature before we go into the camp, and we cant get in big groups of people. Those of the ways it will be different. Were still working on it. I hear you that you want your camp, and were going to do our best. Mr. Moffit victoria is also from providence and is a fifth grader. Victoria asks, when the number of infected people go down, will businesses and parks start to open up again . Gov. Raimondo yes, victoria. You are very smart. You should come work on my team. Thats exactly the plan. So right now, the number of infections is not going down yet. Its actually kind of flat, which is great. Last time we talked to you, it was going up. Now it is flat. Pretty soon, it will start to go down. And when it starts to go down, thats when we can go to the park. We can go to the beach this summer. We can go back out to the store. Your folks might get back to work. So thats exactly the plan. And we have to do it slowly. Its like one step. And then well walk, and then well run. Its not going to be everything open all at once. But yeah, the answer is yes, were going to get to go outside a lot more once the infections go down. Mr. Moffit its a good reminder that in the next couple of weeks, certainly weve got to stick with it. This is no time to letting off, you know, some of things weve been doing, because the fact that its working shows that if we keep doing it, well be in a much better place. Keeping distant, Wearing Masks is something you can push through. Even though it is really hard to be stuck at home, not going to the park. Gov. Raimondo so i want you all to know, even though it is really hard to be stuck at home, not going to the park, not seeing your friends at school, its working. You guys are absolutely savings lives. You know, if you didnt do what youre doing, we would have a lot more sick people in rhode island. Mr. Moffit yeah. Gov. Raimondo we would have a lot more sick people in the hospital. But you havent. Youve done a really good job. So to you and to your teachers and to your parents, even though it is incredibly hard, and i hope you never have to do this again, its working. So you should feel good about yourself that, even if you are a kid, youre playing a role, in fighting coronavirus here on rhode island. Mr. Moffit and if you see someone walk out of their house , you can always ask them wheres the mask . Allison asks, why cant we go back to school and see our friends . Gov. Raimondo our kids miss their friends, too. We miss our friends. Actually, we dont get to see our friends, either. Right now, since theres so much of the virus out there, and since the way the virus spreads is from one person to another, so when you get close to people, and you know, people breathe and sneeze and cough, thats how we spread the virus to each other. So if we let you go back to school and be with your friends, too many people will get sick too fast. And that is why we cannot allow it right now. But soon enough, we will. Mr. Moffit jeffrey, who is a seventh grader in pawtucket, asks, what kind of activities are you doing in your quarantine, dear . Gov. Raimondo well, i have had to work, so i have not gotten much of a quarantine, but maybe my husband will try to answer one of that. That. I try to exercise every day. We walk the dog a lot, the kids and i play outside. We play some basketball. Weve enjoyed doing that together as a family. We go bike riding. So ive tried to ive tried to exercise and get outside, a little bit each day. Mr. Moffit yeah, no, thank you. A lot of these activities we do together, because we want to be together, just the five of us you know, the four of us. We always want to be in groups of less than five. Getting outside is important. Has been amazing to me just how excited ive been to walk our dog. Sparky has been wondering why. I get out. Ive been working on my lawn, raking up the dead grass and trying to get things going for the day. When i cant go out and do something. But the activity ive tried to do, which has not been very popular in the house, is to cook. Ive been trying to cook at least a meal once or twice a week. Im not a very good cook. But its a great thing to feel what we could do differently. Youre learning how to do Distance Learning. Im trying to work something as well. We can ask her when were off camera whether its good. Gov. Raimondo we try to limit him to breakfast. Mr. Moffit i have got to cut you off. How do you prevent stress . Gov. Raimondo thats a great question, nassir. Its a hard thing. I know everybody feels a lot i know everybodys feeling stress every day. If youre feeling stress, its completely normal. Everybody feels more stressed right now. Some things you can do, you can exercise. You can go outside. You can listen to music. You can talk to somebody. Find somebody you can talk to. Maybe its a teacher, maybe its your brother, a sister, a friend. Just somebody. Find somebody you can talk to, somebody who will listen to you,. Also, i would stay in touch with your friends, if you can. If you have a phone or if you have some way to be with your friends online, all that stuff is really important, even though youre at home alone, figure out a way to have contact with people every day. Somehow, every day, try to have some contact with other people , because that will help. But theres no one thing. And some days it will be worse than others. And then the next day, it will be a little bit better. Actually pick up the phone. I think its interesting, you know, a lot of of our communications now are by snapchat or by text and so forth. So calling someone, which i know a lot of the students out there probably dont do that. I have enjoyed connecting with friends. It has been a good excuse to get people to call. And its a small idea for you. Ok. Adonis is a seventh grader in providence. Will the next school year be normal . What is the new normal . Gov. Raimondo so, i depends on what we mean by normal. Its not going to be the way it was last year, because we all have to do things a little differently because of the virus. Youll be going back to school, i hope. The plan is, if everything goes according to the way it is now, youll be able to go back to school, but we will have to be washing your hands a lot more. We might have to make some changes to the way we have lunch and breakfast at school. We will probably have to spread out, fewer kids in the classroom. You may have to wear a mask. Your teachers might have to have masks on. We are going to have to clean your school, every single day, multiple times through the day. So this i think of this its its almost like we have to a dance. Its almost like we have to dance with the virus. Oh. Well [laughter] its a complicated change. Its going to throw us a curveball. We have to change with that. So its not going to be normal. Its not going to be the same old school. Youre going to go back to school. You are going to get to be with your friends. You are going to get to be with your teachers. But there are going to be some changes, and im not exactly sure what that means. October may look different than september. But were going to get you back to school. Its going to be fun. Youre going to learn. And were going to do our best to get through it. Mr. Moffit i have this image of dancing. And i love dancing with you, my dear, but dancing with the virus, i dont know. Feels like its more of like a bullfight. [laughter] gov. Raimondo i just made that up, i dont know. Mr. Moffit gisele, a 12th grader, a senior in pawtucket, asks, are we going to do for the class, the important class of 2020 . Gov. Raimondo i feel for the class of 2020. This is not the senior year that anybody wanted. Ive been hearing from lots of kids some kids were going to be captain of the sports team. Are you going to have the you know, an Honor Society of event, or graduation or end of year party . And unfortunately, most of that is not going to be able to happen the way you thought it was going to happen. Thats the bad news. Heres the good news. Were going to come up with new ways to have fun and celebrate you and let you be with your friends in ways that are safe. Going to be in smaller groups and were going to celebrate , you. And were going to have a good time doing it and were going to , create memories. Your graduation and your senior year is going to be different than kids before you and kids after you. Its going to be yours. Youll have your own memories. You can tell your kids and grandkids in years to come about the class of 2020. So were work hard on all different kinds of things. Maybe fun fun activities that would be like a prom, only more of a virtual kind of dance party. A televised to have graduation event on june 15 for the whole state, which, you know, were working on. Its going to be a really good time. And i would ask you to get creative. I will say this. By the time graduation rolls around in june, we probably will still be in a place where we can only be together in groups of maybe, i dont know, 20 or fewer. So we can be you can be together with your friends more than you are now, but definitely not in big groups. So were going to have to get creative. And ill rely on you for some good ideas. Mr. Moffit in the most important thing is, you know, really recognizing the tremendous accomplishments that the graduates of 2020 have. That is the most important thing, and we will find ways to celebrate that, but i want to recognize the great, hard work of the students and the educator s who made that possible for 12 or 13 years of schooling. You know, its a big thing. Speaking of, bridget, who is a 12th grader, also a senior in newport, asks, how are you working with the College President s throughout rhode island to bring them back safely in the fall . Gov. Raimondo we do want that and we should be able to go safely though. I have asked all of the College President s at all 20 colleges in rhode island to submit to me their plans for how they can safely reopen in the fall. We are going to give them time to work on it. I think we gave them, i dont know, five or six weeks or more to develop their plan. We gave them guidelines for what a safe plan has to look like. And then theyre going to come back to us, and we will work with them. Well have the department of health and our doctors and Networks Work with them, to get that plan in shape over the summer so that in the fall, hopefully they will be able to get students able to come back. More cleaning. More testing. Mask wearing. Probably not big lecture halls, where everybody, you know, 300, 400 kids in a lecture hall at one time. So we have the good news is we have several months to plan for it, and were doing that. And our hope is to give you a chance to go to college in the fall and have, you know, a normal experience. Mr. Moffit elijah, who is an 11th grader in barrington, s asks, actually states first, some states are reopening the facing backlash. Do you plan on opening rhode to playor are you going it safe and avoid backlash . Elijah has joined the Political Press corps. [laughter] gov. Raimondo he has a good question. Tough one, elijah. I am going to open up the economy. It is my plan to start reopening the economy on may 9th, assuming between now and may 9th, everybody stays at home, and the virus keeps going down. And then we reopen it on may 9. Its going to be one step at a time. We will allow a little bit more commerce. Some people who work in an office can go back to work. If they work a mask and theyre not sick. Were still not going to be able to eat in restaurants right away. That will come in the next phase. So we are going to open it in phases and slowly. I dont know about the backlash. This is a really hard time to govern. Some people right now want me to not open the economy. They are afraid. A lot of people are afraid. On the other hand, we have many, many people out of work. You probably know somebody who has lost their job, lots of restaurants have been closed. Lots of Small Businesses are closed. So its a tough job right now, trying to walk up and strike a balance between getting people back to work but doing it safely. So what im going to do is, i listen a lot. I spend a lot of my time listening, listening to doctors listening to professors. Scientists,to listening to businesses. The best i can, and we are going to do it slowly. First, were going to test the water. Make sure its ok. And then were going to go a little bit faster appear a little faster. Mr. Moffit amaya, who is an eighth grader from Central Falls she writes, how long is this . Caps, how long is this actually going to last, and when will they make a vaccine . Gov. Raimondo amaya. I think she expresses just in time for everybody. I wish i could give you a date right now. You answered your own question, which is when we have a vaccine that works. Thats widely available and everybody can get the vaccine, just like the flu shot. Well, then it will end. Then it will end like the flu. Some people will still get sick. Just like getting your flu shot, when you have a vaccine for this, the best that the experts have is that thats about one year away. So in about a year, we think we will have a vaccine. It will not be like this for a year, though. We are not going to be stuck in our house for the year. Hopefully in a couple of weeks. , we can see our friends a , couple of at a time. Hopefully this summer, we can be together in larger groupings. We can go to store. Maybe we can go out for dinner. Hopefully in the fall, like i said, hopefully we will open schools again. But were going to be relying with some of these new restrictions. Youre going to have to wash your hands all the time, you know, and be really careful if you get sick. Mr. Moffit so i think were near the end with a few. Nicholas asks, how is covid19 still spreading when were all staying at home . Gov. Raimondo [laughs] that is a great question. Mr. Moffit he is like, i havent been outside for six weeks. Gov. Raimondo smart question. Good from your perspective. Not everybody is staying hope. Several of us have to go to work. Doctors have to go to work. Nurses have to go to work. Police officers, firefighters, people in the grocery store, probably someone in your house has been going to the grocery store. So not everybody is at home. , and as a result, the virus keeps spreading. Heres the good news. Kids are going fine with this. You know, the older you get, the worst this is. So the this is dangerous maybe for your grandparents, or if you have an older aunt or uncle or older people in your life. When they get it, they get much sicker. That is why we have to be really , really careful, to make sure this does not spread. But kids, so far anyway, you guys are resilient, and kids are bouncing back pretty nicely. Mr. Moffit so i think this is our last one from amalia, who is a fifth grader in governor. , good morning, governor. Gov. Raimondo good afternoon. Mr. Moffit good afternoon. When she wrote it, i guess. Im a Soccer Player and i play yearround. Id like to know when i will play outdoors. And she would like to thank you for what you do. Gov. Raimondo what you do. Very nicely done and thank you. If you were here, id ask what position you play, but ill save that for another time. I dont know. It depends on how were doing in the summer. As summer goes on, things will be easier, so what you can do in july will probably be more than you can do in june. I hope so. Yeah, i hope so, but it might be, you know, in smaller groups, and in, you know, a different way. So were going to work its going to be a goal of mine. Were going to work at it. If you cant play exactly the way you want to, it sounds like youre incredibly competitive Soccer Player. There will be an opportunity to kick the ball around with your friends. Mr. Moffit so, thank you for that. Gov. Raimondo thank you. Mr. Moffit i hope folks that were tuned in were able to enjoy the questions, and the backandforth. But the most important thing is this was a conversation. Back to the original conversation, parents, kids, keep asking these questions. You may not always be asking the governor, but you can ask your parents, uncles, people in your life. If youre feeling anxious, uncertain, lets talk about it. Because we are all feeling that way. Gov. Raimondo talk about it. Tell your teacher. Tell somebody in your life. Because like andy says, were all feeling this way. After this, we will all hang out. Ill see you here at the statehouse. Ill see you at the schools. Just know how proud we are. We think you are amazing. Your questions are great, too. And we hope you had fun with us this afternoon. Mr. Moffit yeah, thanks. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspan has aroundtheclock coverage of the response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it is all Available Online at cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch white house briefings, updates from governors and state officials, track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps, watch ondemand, anytime, unfiltered, at cspan. Org coronavirus. The court is now sitting. For the first time in history, hear the u. S. Supreme court, live. In may, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the court is hearing all oral arguments in 10 cases by teleconference. Cspan will provide live coverage of each of these sessions. First up on monday, at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, the justices hear the case of u. S. Patent and Trademark Office versus booking. Com. The case concerns the travel companys fight to trademark its website. Be a part of history and listen to the Supreme Court oral arguments as theyre heard by the justices. Live, monday, at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. On demand at cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Isit ncicap. Org] coming