The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Gov extends state of emergency through April 20
HARTFORD — Connecticut is on the verge of eclipsing 7,000 official deaths attributed to COVID-19 — less than a month after surpassing 6,000 — even as hospitalizations for the virus remain relatively stable and hundreds of thousands have received their first shot of the vaccine.
“It’s hard to give an exact explanation. I think we might still be looking at some impact actually from around the holiday time,” said Dr. David Banach, head of infection prevention and an associate professor of medicine at UConn Health.
There were 1,267 new COVID infections reported Tuesday with a daily positivity rate of 3.67 percent, the lowest it’s been for a single day since early November.
Hospitalizations remained steady at 1,068, but another 23 deaths increased the statewide total to 6,934.
As the state approaches the next grim milestone, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Tuesday he was extending Connecticut’s pandemicrelated state of emergency through April 20.
While deaths from the virus continue to mount, the fatalities reported each day are likely from transmissions that occurred weeks ago, Banach said.
Banach noted that deaths from the coronavirus “lag” from the time people get infected to when they develop symptoms and then possibly hospitalized for a week or two before dying.
“So we still may be looking at an effect from exposures that took place a few weeks ago,” Banach said.
The deaths come as hospitalizations for the virus have remained relatively stable in recent weeks.
“We’re optimistic that maybe we’re seeing a plateauing, but really, we just have to look at this one week at a time,” Banach said.
The state has also now recorded eight cases of a highly infectious COVID variant, known as B.1.1.7., that was first detected in the United Kingdom.
“In some ways, there’s sort of a race between the emergence of these new strains and trying to maximize the effective vaccination to drive down transmission as a whole,” Banach said.
Despite some people receiving the vaccine, he urged caution. “We hear about vaccination and it’s really important, and many are viewing it as the light at the end of the tunnel, but I think this shows we’re still in the tunnel,” he said.
Lamont said the state of emergency extension applies to the civil preparedness emergency and the public health emergency in response to the pandemic.
He originally declared the state of emergency on March 10, 2020. It was initially set to expire on Sept. 9, 2020, but Lamont had extended that until Feb. 9.
“The virus is not going to suddenly end on Feb. 9, and to eliminate all of these preventative measures on that day would be irresponsible, and in many cases, lifethreatening,” Lamont said in a statement Tuesday regarding the extension through April.
The state is now in Phase 1B of its vaccine roll-out, with those 75 and older eligible to receive the vaccine. While vaccine doses are being administered daily, the virus continues to rapidly spread, including more cases of the highly contagious U.K. variant, Lamont said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney,
D-New Haven, said Tuesday the governor told legislative leaders Monday night of the plan to extend the emergency orders.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, Looney said that since the legislature is in session, lawmakers can adjust individual orders, such as the telehealth measure.
“I think there is broadbased support in extending that,” Looney said during a Zoom news conference. “I think we will try to create a statute, I think, during this session that will make telehealth a permanent part of our process, rather than having it subject to just an executive order that gets extended on an ad hoc basis.”
Republican leaders on Tuesday said they were disappointed by the governor’s order, and were not sure whether the group of 10 legislative leaders, including committee chairmen, would convene to review the extension of the public health emergency and possibly reject it before a Friday morning deadline. However, state law gives Lamont the authority to unilaterally extend the civil preparedness emergency.
“Basically, the Republicans want the people’s voice to be heard,” said
Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, of Stratford. “It’s not that hard of a concept. All we’re asking is that the representatives that were elected by our community and sent to Hartford to be their voice, actually get the opportunity to be their voice.” In particular, Kelly pointed to Connecticut’s nursing homes, where the majority of the state’s nearly 7,000 COVID-related deaths have occurred.
“I think we had some reasonable proposals going forward,” said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, of North Branford, noting a Monday night letter that GOP lawmakers sent to request more input in response to the pandemic.
In particular, Kelly and Candelora want the capacity limit lifted on churches and more consideration for business owners.
“We wanted some certainty for businesses,” Candelora said, stressing that three days notice for closure orders in the pandemic have been too much of a burden.
“Unfortunately, the Democrat leaders and the legislature feel that it’s more important for him to have unfettered control with no compromise than to try to find a bipartisan agreement,” Candelora said of the Democratic governor.