State officials urge residents to call off holiday gatherings
NEW HAVEN — The stockings may be hung by the chimney with care, but the real question is whether any guests should be invited there.
Nobody wants to be a Grinch, but the answer is no.
City and state officials and medical professionals are advising residents to gather only with members of their immediate household on Christmas, noting the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and concerns about its spread.
Gov. Ned Lamont “continues to strongly urge against holiday travel,” according to Max Reiss, spokesman for the governor.
“We’ve said time and again that limiting gatherings, and staying within individual family units is the best way to mitigate the spread,” Reiss said. “We’ve even produced videos and promoted ads online urging people to stay home and utilize modern tools like videoconferencing to connect with loved ones.”
“We all need to continue to do our part to limit the spread, wear our masks and work together to get through the pan
demic,” he said.
Reiss pointed to a PSA produced by the state ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, noting that it would continue to be circulated through Christmastime. The message of the video was to stay closer to home, limit sit down dinners to household member and to consider video calls with loved ones or a virtual party.
Dr. Richard Martinello, medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Hospital, said that there may be “extraordinary matters” within a family that would compel some to travel, but he also noted the risk. A given coronavirus test is only a snapshot, he said; a person could become contagious later that same day.
“I think people need to stay home. They need to keep their celebrations to those who live in the house with them,” said Martinello. “They can extend those celebrations virtually to others, but my recommendation is to stay home and not travel.”
Yule rules
Milford Health Director Deepa Joseph also advised that people stay home unless absolutely necessary, but said those who do travel should wear masks, distance and either stay outside or ventilate the area as much as possible.
“(W)hile I completely understand that it feels like it’s been a long time ... I hope people can hang on a little bit longer,” said Joseph.
Torrington Area Health District Director of Health Robert Rubbo stressed that, given the way the coronavirus continues to spread, it’s important for people to follow the state’s orders for gatherings over the holidays.
“The governor’s executive orders call for private residences to have a cap of 10 people for a gathering,” said Rubbo, whose health district is comprised of 18 communities in the northwest corner of the state, including Torrington and Winsted. “What we’re seeing, as a health district involved in contact tracing, is the spread of the virus is often coming from these private gatherings.
“There’s a lot of transmission coming from those types of gatherings,” he said. “So I want to stress to people to adhere to the executive orders, and keep those gatherings small.”
“I think we saw an increase the week after Thanksgiving, because people were out, attending things. … Right now, we have
4.15 cases per 100,000 people. Our positivity rate was 7.7 percent, and right now we’re in the high 6 percent. So now, we need to be cautious during the holidays, to keep those numbers down.”
According to the state’s reports on Torrington’s CO
VID-19 case rate, the city had
171 cases the week of Nov. 29, and 102 cases the week of Dec. 7.
“The state has done a phenomenal job of gathering data and reporting it, and we stay on top of those numbers to see whether it’s up or down,” Rubbo said. “The good news is, we’ve see it level off and start to come down in the last week or so.”
New Haven Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana said that while it is recommended that only families from the same household gather to ensure safe holiday celebrations, people must keep in mind that a college student home for the holidays is not considered the same household.
Further, if family gatherings do take place, it is recommended that it include social distancing of 6 feet and wearing an appropriate mask for respiratory protection, Fontana said.
“We know this this difficult, but in order ensure family heath and safety it is strongly recommended,” Fontana said.
Middletown Acting Health Director Kevin Elak also noted local officials are issuing the same warnings about holiday travel as they did prior to Thanksgiving.
“We’re pleading with everyone to stay close to home and not travel unless it is absolutely necessary, even for intimate celebrations,” Elak said. “People should stick with their nuclear and close family gatherings.”
Elak said he has seen instances in which more than a few people attend gatherings where everyone feels fine, and, within a couple of days, one comes down with symptoms or tests positive.
“That’s when exposure can occur,” Elak said.
It takes up to five days for symptoms to show up, the health director said.
Tough decisions
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the issue of limiting travel has been difficult for his family, as his parents and his wife’s parents were used to getting together as a unit for the holidays.
“Our very, very strong advice is that people stick to their core groups. And I know it’s hard,” said Elicker. “People are feeling really lonely right now. But we’ve got to focus on many Christmases and Thanksgivings and holidays to come.
“We’ll have many more opportunities to celebrate together, and it’s better to not put people at risk now, because we want to keep people in our hearts and our lives for many years to come,” he said.
Michael Urban, director of the Occupational Therapy Program at the University of New Haven, also recommended that people stick to those with whom they live for the holidays, noting someone will not immediately test positive after being exposed as there is a lag time as the virus builds up to a detectable level.
Urban also said, noting that a vaccine from Pfizer had begun to be rolled out to the population, with others in the offing, that data about whether they could be put to permanent use in the future still needed to be collected. A change in national leadership also would ease the pandemic, he said, as it likely would result in clearer guidance for the public.
“I hope people can see there is an end coming,” said Urban. “People need to safe. Be creative (this holiday season).”
Close family, at a distance
If a person attends an event with a larger group, Rubbo urged them to stay conscious of social distancing and to wear a mask at all times, other than when eating and drinking.
“Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Stay distant,” Rubbo said. “And most importantly, if you have a party that you want to attend, and you’re feeling sick, stay home. You’re the one who could be spreading the virus. Those are the key elements to try and help reduce the spread of the virus.”
Urban suggested those who do gather try to come up with something to do outdoors, so they can maintain social distancing and air flow during the visit; keep the gatherings brief; and consider the time of their last potential exposure, so they can appropriately judge when a coronavirus test would give an accurate result.
Martinello noted that, if someone were to decide to travel, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended the use of portable HEPA filters for indoor gatherings, which could be of use.
Rubbo and his team at the health district are working to get the vaccine out to the first group of vulnerable people including health care workers, EMTs, EMS workers and volunteers.
“This week’s been a whirlwind,” Rubbo said. “They want us to help with the vaccination of people in Phase 1A, which includes health care workers, first responders, EMTs, EMS, and also private health care providers. One of the challenges is that the vaccine is coming in limited supplies, so we have to prioritize who gets the vaccine first.
“Our hope is that as the vaccines start to be distributed, we’ll see our numbers start to come down more and more,” he said. “At our long-term care facilities, where we have the most vulnerable people, CVS and Walgreens staff will be going to those facilities and start vaccinating those residents,” Rubbo said. “That’s great news for us, because those are the ones the virus can kill.”