The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Cromwell residents urged to get free flu shots
CROMWELL — As flu season begins, town officials are urging residents to take advantage of a Nov. 7 clinic to get a free flu shot.
The town already ran two clinics this month that attracted more than 500 residents, according to Public Health Coordinator Salvatore Nesci.
But Nesci, Mayor Enzo Faienza and Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said it is crucial that as many residents as possible be vaccinated. It’s particularly essential given the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in town in the past two weeks, the officials said during the most recent clinic, which was held in the Town Hall gymnasium Wednesday.
COVID cases jumped some 13.9 percent in the previous two-week period, bringing the town to the “orange” level of the state’s monitoring protocol.
The designation requires the town to scale back public events, limit group sizes and postpone indoor activities where mask wearing and/or social distancing cannot be maintained.
The designations – yellow, orange, and red – are based on the number of cases per 100,000 individuals, Nesci said.
The latest flu shot clinic was held in cooperation with the Stop & Shop supermarket at 195 West St.
Jason Quint, pharmacy manager at the market, and Pharmacist Frances Nixon-Simon were at the clinic to administer inoculations.
“Getting a flu shot this year is more important than it’s been in any year,” Nesci said, “to ensure that we have a healthy population.”
What’s more, influenza has many of the same symptoms as COVID-19, Nesci said.
By getting inoculated against the flu, residents’ actions “takes the stress off our first responders and allows them to keep their focus on COVID-19,” he said.
Salvatore said by having as many residents as possible take advantage of the flu clinic, “it frees up beds in the ICU for people who have contracted the coronavirus, and takes at least some of the pressure off doctors, nurses and other first responders.”
Salvatore previously had a flu shot, while Faienza and Nesci got theirs on Wednesday.
Salvatore was on hand to support Nesci as he got his flu shot, while the health department’s administrative secretary, Alberina Fletcher, stood by lending moral support to Faienza as he received his.
After he did, Faienza thanked “Sal and his entire staff for putting this together for our residents.”
“Sal has done a fantastic job – as usual,” Faienza said.
The Nov. 7 clinic will be held in the Town hall gymnasium from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The clinic is part of a four-town cooperative effort to inoculate many residents as possible. The other towns involved in the effort are Durham, Middlefield and Middletown.