Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to an example of the creativity will be needed to hasten the distribution of COVID-19 vaccination. The state launched its first outdoor, mass vaccination on Sunday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. Anyone who has attended a concert there might put it at the top of the charts of possibilities given the long, barren runway, but it wasn’t in the plans a week ago. Being able to pivot and inoculate as many as 1,000 people a day is a huge step forward, and should inspire similar thinking about other sites.
Thumbs up to automotive sales remaining somewhat steady in 2020 despite the tumult of the pandemic. New car sales dipped by 11.6 percent compared with 2019, which is relatively good considering many dealers were closed for several weeks in 2020. The year-end numbers were somewhat alleviated by a year-to-year increase of more than 15 percent in February. The numbers are also encouraging given that traffic levels were down by as much as 80 percent in some communities. While keeping fewer cars on the road is always a worthy goal, the success of the U.S. economy leans heavily on automotive sales.
Thumbs down to data that indicates 7,823 youths from age
13 to 24 experienced homelessness or housing instability in 2020. We could pitch this as a “thumbs up,” given that the figure represents a
16 percent decrease from 2019, but this is an issue everyone in the state must strive to address. It also disproportionately impacts the Black, Hispanic and/or
LGBTQ+ communities. Of the current figure, 2,462 reportedly experienced literal homelessness. CCEH Youth Special Projects Coordinator Roy Graham is right to observe, “There’s still a significant amount of work out there.”
Thumbs down to the reality check provided by statistics concerning food insecurity in Connecticut. Foodshare estimates that there has been in increase of about 28 percent during the pandemic, and about 73 percent of the cars passing through a food distribution site in the spring had never used the service before. The 11 million meals Foodshare distributed in the second half of the year was about the same amount as they handed out in all of 2019. The lines have remained this winter, evidence of the deep repercussions left by the coronavirus.
Thumbs down to another discouraging update on the pandemic, that recent unemployment claims in the country, 965,000, are at the highest since late August. Prior to the pandemic, a typical week of applications was about 225,000. Though there was a decrease of applications during summer months, the number has remained over 700,000 since September.
Thumbs up to further evidence that during this age of COVID, people might just be taking better care of themselves. While some cynics dismiss the benefits of social distancing, masks and washing hands, there were no reported hospitalizations in Connecticut from Jan. 3-9 for the flu. Those figures, the most recent that are available, showed only two more people testing positive for the flu. The 34 who caught it this season represent a fraction of the 1,613 recorded at the same time a year earlier. Again, this is no time to relax. Within days in 2020, the number of people suffering from the flu spiked to 3,281.