Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs down to the grim, if hardly surprising news that COVID-19 numbers are rising with the arrival of autumn. Gov. Ned Lamont expressed concern as the positivity rate in Connecticut hovered around 1.6 percent after sinking below 1 percent last month. Keith Grant of Hartford HealthCare said, “I think we need to be prepared for a surge 2.0. I don’t believe the numbers will go back down again anytime soon.” The best way to contain the numbers is to adhere to the protocols that drove the numbers down in the first place. Right now, the primary enemy is complacency.
Thumbs up to John Oliver for making financial donations to educators as the latest move in his playful “feud” with the City of Danbury. Oliver offered to distribute $55,000 to various causes should Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton follow through on a pledge to name its sewage treatment plant after the comedian. We feared Boughton might have overplayed his hand in swapping punchlines with Oliver when he set the condition that the comic show up for the ribbon cutting. “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” is on hiatus, though it scooped up its fifth consecutive Emmy Award Sunday. Given the attention that has been drawn to the state (as well as the charities), we’re happy to invite other late show hosts to take their best shots at Connecticut.
Thumbs up to Connecticut picking up 20,400 jobs in August, paired with a shift in estimates for July job gains from 5,800 to 32,300, according to the state Department of Labor. The numbers are encouraging, though the loss of 291,000 positions in March and April remains sobering. There has been a gain of about 160,000 positions since June, but the state still has a long way to go to stabilizing the economy. About a quarter of a million state residents are reportedly filing for unemployment assistance each week.
Thumbs down to an instinct by some people that is as almost as misguided as resisting coronavirus guidelines. New Canaan has 32 reported cases of items being stolen from vehicles, about three times as many as were reported at this point a year ago. The common factor this year, last year and other occasions of such thefts is that many of the owners are neglecting to lock their cars. “If residents would simply lock their cars,” New Canaan police Chief Leon Krolikowski said. It’s good advice in every municipality.
Thumbs up to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities for keeping the focus on adequate and equitable funding of Connecticut’s public schools by collaborating with federal reserve Bank of Boston on a report titled “Measuring Disparities in Costs and Spending Across Connecticut School Districts.” The report estimates the state would have to increase funding by 12.3 percent — an additional $940 million — to put districts on equal footing with student performance. The state’s complex Education Cost Sharing formula has been the subject of much debate and court cases, but we hope the report can be an opening for more examination.