The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
East Hampton spike puts town on Orange Alert list
EAST HAMPTON – A sudden spike in coronavirus cases has nudged East Hampton up into an elevated precautionary level.
Town Manager David E. Cox issues regular reports on COVID-19 conditions every two weeks.
This week, however, he issued an “unscheduled release” after learning from the state Department of Public Health that the town had seen 12 new cases in the past week.
Those additional cases pushed the town’s daily positivity rate to 11.7 per 100,000 population.
And that in turn means the town has moved up to an Orange Alert designation under the state’s virus
alert system.
An “Orange Alert is the second highest level of alert status and its designation calls for a “scaling back of large events,” Cox said in his release.
In addition to scaling
back events, the heightened designation also requires the “limiting of indoor events and avoiding time with (people) outside one’s household without protective measures.”
However, “restaurants and businesses can — and will remain — open under the state’s Phase 3 regulations,” Cox said, although they are reminded to strictly adhere to state protocols.”
The additional dozen cases are the latest in a surge in new coronavirus cases in recent weeks, which total 30 cases, Cox said.
In all since the pandemic began the town has seen 96 reported cases, the manager said.
The sharp uptick in recent weeks is not altogether surprising: there has been a general rise in infections in surrounding towns as well as been spikes in cases in both Norwich and New London
in the past six weeks.
The Chatham Health District said it has determined that many of the new cases are linked to “an increase in close contacts among people at small private gatherings,” Cox said.
Regrettably, the CHD said, other cases are the result of people who are not complying with protective measures, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
Other health officials have said some of the blame for the rise in new cases is due to “COVID fatigue” and to the desire of people to get out and enjoy fall weather and try to create a semblance of what was pre-pandemic normalcy.
Regardless of the reasons, Cox said, “These close contacts and they continued infections demonstrate the need to take
protective measures for ourselves and others by adhering to the proper safeguards and quarantine rules while we are out and in social settings.”
He also encouraged residents to get tested for COVID-19, even if they have been tested before or are showing little or no symptoms.
“While a test is a snapshot of one’s status on the day of a test, knowledge is power as we all work to keep the virus in check,” Cox said.
The CVS pharmacy in town is the closest testing site, “but free testing is also available in Middletown at the Community Health Center,” he said.
To find a testing site, Cox urged residents to visit the state’s coronavirus website, https://portal.ct.gov/ Coronvirus and enter the appropriate zip code.
Residents also can call 211 or visit www.211ct.org to find a nearby testing site, he said.