Virus risk rises to ‘orange’ in Cromwell; high school goes to hybrid model

CROMWELL — Fewer student will be in school buildings and town and health officials are urging residents to renew efforts to practice social distancing and avoid large crowds as the rate of COVID-19 cases has increased.

The state Department of Public Health notified the town that the COVID-19 risk level has risen from yellow to orange on the state’s scale.

The shift came as the DPH found rates of infection increasing by 13.9 percent over the past two weeks, according to Salvatore Nesci, the town’s public health coordinator.

It is the first time the town has been in the orange zone, which involves having 10-14 cases per 100,00 people per day, Nesci said Monday. The DPH notified the town of the risk level increase Friday.

A yellow zone declaration involves 5-9 cases per 100,000, while red means

15-plus cases per 100,000 people.)

As a consequence of the orange zone designation, “Town and school officials — in consultation with the Cromwell Health Department — are asking all residents for full cooperation,” officials said in a release that bore the names of Town manager Anthony J. Salvatore and Superintendent of Schools Enza Macri.

“As a community, we must work together to increase public awareness,” the two officials said.

“This includes moving activities to outdoors when possible and minimizing social gatherings,” they added. “In order to decrease the cases and keep everyone as safe as possible, we must become more vigilant with implementing ... mitigation strategies.”

Those strategies include wearing masks/face coverings in public places at all times, respecting social distancing guidelines and taking extra precautions if part of a higher-risk group.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation and we plan on taking the appropriate steps as necessary,” Salvatore said via phone Monday.

With the change in the town’s status, officials Monday said the high school would switch to a hybrid learning model in order to limit students’ potential for exposure.

Steps school officials have taken have been successful, Nesci said.

“Our kids are safe in school,” he said.

Macri could not be reached for comment Monday.

Even as he urged residents to obey social distancing rules and wear masks at all times in public, Salvatore said the health department has hired a local health professional to do contract tracing of residents who do contract the virus.

In addition, the town is “looking to set up free testing for our residents,” Salvatore said.

“Our initial efforts at contract tracing has shown the spike in cases appears to be caused by people attending social gatherings and not following rules social distancing or wearing masks,” he said. “It also appears that attendance at athletic events could also be a factor.”

The recent uptick in coronavirus cases is not unique to here.

Nationwide, officials counted 59,691 new cases Sunday, according to a New York Times database, with many of those cases occurring in the states in the center of the country that had previously escaped the worst of COVID infections.

Major European countries, including England, France and Italy have also seen an upsurge in cases.

Nesci said while residents locally had been adhering to the guidelines, “It appears many people are suffering from ‘virus fatigue.’”

“People are tired of it,” and just want it to go away, he said.

Unfortunately, he acknowledged, “It’s not that simple when you’re dealing a with a mass pandemic.”

Contributed photo The entrance to Cromwell Town Hall is disinfected earlier this year.