City urges kids to skip trick-or-treating

NEW HAVEN — The mayor said the city is seeing what he describes as a little “sloppiness” when it comes to COVID-19 guidelines.

Mayor Justin Elicker spoke as he noted a slight uptick in positive COVID-19 cases that officials attribute to small group gatherings.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, Health Director Maritza Bond, speaking along with the mayor, issued guidance on Halloween gatherings.

Basically she said parents should be creative with online parties or contests that can be virtual or sponsor such things as decorated car parades and drivebys.

The city is not recommending door-to-door trick or treating or car-to-car “trunk treating.”

Bond said it is really difficult to maintain social distancing at doors, porches and lots where cars are parked. There have been trunk-treating events in the city in some years, with hundreds of children turning out.

Elicker said people mostly have been good about wearing masks and social distancing, “however, we have seen a little bit of sloppiness.”

The mayor said, just as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted, small house gatherings have contributed “significantly to the uptick.”

“I think there has been a lot of frustration. I think people are getting tired of having to abide by pretty strict guidelines. I just want to encourage people that we got to stay the course and focus and make sure we are continuing ... to do everything we can to keep each other safe,” he said.

Bond said minor clusters appeared over the last 14 days. She said there have been 63 new cases over two weeks, lower than other urban centers.

Two weeks prior to this, however, Bond said there were 20 new cases. “So we are closely monitoring it.

We still are within the slow growth disease threshold, but we want to be cognizant because across the state we are seeing a jump” in cases as well as hospitalizations.

Bond said the hospitalizations here total 26 with five patients in the ICU, up from 12 hospitalizations on Oct. 4.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in New Haven since the beginning of the pandemic is 3,205 with 684 hospitalizations and 113 fatalities.

Elicker said individuals in the 25-40 age range represent 59 percent of the cases.

“We ask individuals to avoid large gatherings and adhere to sector rules when they are visiting restaurants and other events,” Bond said.