Dunn: ‘It’s scary as hell’
Brookfield prepares for COVID-19 vaccine distribution as cases rise
As Connecticut readies for the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine, two Brookfield residents have volunteered to help administer them, according to the town’s first selectman.
In a December newsletter, the town put out a call for “licensed active and retired nurses, other health care providers and EMTs qualified to give injections.” First Selectman Steve Dunn said late last week the town’s health director has told him two people have volunteered, and Brookfield is still on the lookout for additional help.
“The state has not settled on a final plan yet for how we’re going to distribute these and vaccinate people, but we want to be ready for it,” Dunn said.
A tentative timeline has
been sketched out for who gets the vaccine and when. The first group, which includes health care workers, first responders and those in nursing homes, are expected to get the vaccine when it gets to the state, according to the state’s website, while
others would expect to get it next year.
Brookfield’s preparation comes when local cases are on the rise. According to the state’s COVID-19 Data Tracker, 161 cases were reported in Brookfield in the two-week span ending Dec. 5.
“This is almost twice the previous two-week period reported,” Dunn wrote in a COVID-19
update to the town.
Those numbers continue to climb. Within the first three days of this month, Dunn said 27 infections had been reported.
“I think what we have to do is continue to ask people to socially distance, wear a mask, don’t gather, go out as little as possible, particularly if you’re over 65, and then wait for the vaccine,” Dunn said in an interview last week, “but that’s gonna be a while, before everybody can be vaccinated.”
The COVID-19 update noted an anticipated increase in the caseload after Thanksgiving. But before the holiday, Dunn said in an interview that the number of infections was “going through the roof.”
According to state data, Brookfield had 624 total cases as of Dec. 11 — 551 confirmed, and 73 probable. That showed more than 334 cases tacked on the total count since a few weeks prior on Nov. 3, when the state recorded 290 total cases — 260 confirmed, and 30 probable.
“You’re just looking at these numbers, we’re losing control of this. We’re going in the wrong direction,” Dunn said Nov. 25. “And it’s scary as hell.”