COVID cases down in local ‘hot spots’
New Milford, Brookfield show improvement
After Gov. Ned Lamont declared Brookfield and New Milford COVID-19 “hot spots” last week, both towns now show a decline in the number of cases.
State data released Thursday afternoon show New Milford had an average of 67 daily cases reported during the week starting April 4, compared with 112 the week prior. In Brookfield, average daily cases were down to 36 after reaching 66 a week before.
Last week, New Milford was ranked third for the state’s highest case rate per 100,000 residents with 66.5, and Brookfield came in fifth with 60.9. These numbers have now dropped, with New Milford at
47.4 and Brookfield at 42.9. Brookfield’s First Selectman Steve Dunn said they’re seeing a significant number of cases among the town’s youth. A sports team was linked to more than 40 local cases and three hospitalizations as the virus spread between families, Dunn said.
Yet, New Milford still has the sixth-highest daily case rate per
100,000 residents in the state, behind East Haven, Thomaston,
Naugautuck and two others. Waterbury was ranked first with a rate of
59.1 per 100,000 residents. “My hope is that we continue to see that fall back to our baseline normal,” said Lisa Morrissey, New Milford health director. “I’m cautiously optimistic because this is spring break week and we’ll have to wait and see what the next week or two brings.”
Morrissey said the town has seen a 40 percent decrease in COVID-19 cases after the initial two clusters — one originating from youth sports and the other from day care centers — were contained.
The decrease “wasn’t surprising” to Morrissey because the spread occurred mainly within households from child to parent.
Even as the number of cases appear to abate, officials urge social distancing and vaccinations.
Following the cluster outbreak, Morrissey urged local sports organizations to enforce existing mask rules on and off the field because of the ease with which the virus spread when players were socializing off the field. The issue wasn’t necessarily on the field, she said, but “the before, the after and the activity on sidelines.”
“Once the masks are no longer required, it does promote more lax behavior,” she said. “They keep the masks off and they continue to socialize.”
As the “hot spot” towns show improvement, numbers in Danbury and New Fairfield are rising. Danbury went from an average of 221 daily cases the week starting March 28, to 237 the week starting April 4, while New Fairfield reported a jump from 19 to 29.
The average daily case rates per 100,000 residents for Danbury and New Fairfield are still lower than that of New Milford and Brookfield, with Danbury hitting 38.6 per 100,000 and New Fairfield even lower at 24.7.
Local officials have responded to rising numbers by encouraging vaccinations. As of this week, Connecticut has given at least one dose to 49.7 percent of the adult population, with 1 million people, or 32.5 percent, fully vaccinated.
Over half of New Milford’s adult population has received at least one shot of the vaccine, as well as more than 56 percent of Brookfield according to state vaccination data. New Milford is starting vaccine clinics for residents 16 to 18 years old, and Morrissey said a significant number of minors are scheduled to get a first Pfizer dose in the next two weeks.
“I have a feeling that a lot of parents are looking to have their kids vaccinated ahead of some of the end-of-year activities, especially prom and graduations,” she said.