NEWPORT, RI — Amid ongoing concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus in Rhode Island, City of Newport officials are encouraging residents to plan ahead. This week, the city launched a webpage dedicated to providing the latest updates from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

City officials are encouraging residents to sign up for the emergency alert system, and to visit the new website for the latest updates. "At this point, it's important to stress that currently there is no identified risk to the community and we are continuing to work closely with regional, state and federal agencies to ensure that we're prepared should the disease appear," city officials wrote in a statement. "In the meantime, we believe that staying informed is by far the most important thing we can do as a community to stay healthy!"

Along with CDC updates, the website also offers a "community toolkit," with resources such as flyers, graphics and videos, which can be downloaded for free to shared within the community. So far, there have been two "presumptive positive" cases in Rhode Island, both announced on Sunday. The first, a man in his 40s, is still hospitalized, the Rhode Island Department of Health said, while the second, a teenage girl, has mild symptoms and is recovering at home. Both of them, along with a third woman who tested negative for the virus, were part of a group of 38 people who traveled to Europe in mid-February with a school trip through St. Raphael's Catholic School in Pawtucket. The school was closed for the entire week for cleaning.