Lamont: COVID red-alert towns now include Fairfield, Norwalk

Chief elected officials in Fairfield, Norwalk, Prospect and Waterbury will be allowed to order the scaled-back Phase 3 reopenings of businesses because of increased COVID-19 infection rates, Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Thursday.

In all, 19 towns, mostly clustered in the southeastern part of the state, are now in the red zone, with more than 15 daily cases per 100,000 population over a two-week period.

The governor announced in a news conference from the state Capitol that affected municipal leaders will have four days to decide on capacity rollbacks. Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said Thursday she will not be ordering a return to Phase 2 in her town, where most of the new cases have been concentrated on the campuses of Sacred Heart and Fairfield universities.

“I would like to once again remind all residents to continue to wear masks, wash hands frequently and maintain a social distance from others,” Kupchick said in a statement. “We encourage the cancellation of any large gatherings and we have already canceled all town-sponsored public events. Currently, the primary means of transmission has been seen from small gatherings where people are letting their guard down by taking off their mask and are coming too close to one another.”

Lamont announced the first red alert designation last week, giving towns and cities flexibility, and the local discretion, to halt Phase 3 reopenings

Fairfield’s rate was listed at 19.6 cases per 100,000 population on the state’s interactive database. Another red alert community, Danbury, has a 15.1 rate. New London has the state’s highest rate at 43.7. Norwalk is 18.9.

“Norwalk is definitely more concerning” than Fairfield, said Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer, during the virtual news conference with state news reporters. “Norwalk case growth was very strong from week-toweek: 72 cases two weeks ago, 163 cases last week, with test positivity at about 5 percent.”

Geballe said that the local COVID-19 spread seems to be mirroring upticks throughout the state and nation, caused by small gatherings without social distancing. “It’s really important that everyone in Norwalk and around the area take extra precautions and get tested,” he said.

“We’ve been staying on top of the case trends and saw this increase coming,” Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said in a statement. “We have learned from previous experience in the spring how quickly things can unravel. That is why we have already implemented the state’s recommendations for communities in a red-alert level. We have upped our testing, sent out more community messages, and discouraged public events and nonessential trips.”

Rilling asked city residents to observe social distancing and mask wearing, while avoiding gatherings. He also is postponing decisions on whether to revert to Phase 2. “I will make tough decisions to keep the community safe, but right now, the data isn’t telling us that Phase 3 is causing increased cases in the community,” he said. “What we are seeing is people being too relaxed and not following public health guidelines.”

“This is a serious situation and we must remain vigilant,” Rilling said. “We will be meeting as a staff and speaking with surrounding communities about additional steps we can take to mitigate the spread of this virus.”

“This is a little bit like a mirror image from where we were in May, when Fairfield County was on fire and southeast Connecticut was not hit very hard,” Lamont said, noting the success of the state’s rapid response teams that are helping with declines in infection rates in Danbury, Norwich and even New London.

Lamont believes that by Thursday, Oct. 29, when the next red-alert list is released, Danbury will have dropped from the designation zone into orange.

Ten communities were added and two taken off the list of 11 municipalities Lamont announced last week would be allowed to order their own steps back to Phase 2, where restaurants and personal care shops were held at 50 percent occupancy. East Lyme and Preston were pulled off the list Thursday, while East Hartford, Waterford, Lisbon, Groton, Plainfield, Salem, Norwalk, Fairfield, Prospect and Waterbury were added.

Lamont’s staff notified the towns and cities earlier in the day on Thursday. “If you’re 65, stay home, here we go again,” Lamont said. “No unnecessary travel. Limit your meetings with nonfamily members, those you’re not really close to. It’s a special time to be very careful.”

The state’s rising infection rate of about 3 percent prompted Lamont last week to provide local mayors and first selectmen to make their own calls on the issue. On Oct. 8, the 50 percent capacity limit was raised to 75 percent. So far, only Windham, with a 22.6 rate per 100,000, has decided to turn back the business reopenings to

Phase 2.

The state Department of Public Health on Thursday announced two new fatalities in the pandemic, bringing the state total to 4,569. There was a net increase of 19 patients, with a total of 232 hospitalized, 39 of whom are in ICUs. Lamont reported that 502 people tested positive for the virus, out of 22,117 tested, for a positivity rate of 2.3 percent. The seven-day average is 2.1 percent, still among the lowest rates in the nation, but creeping up from the 1 percent rates in August.

He said that in the last six months, much has been learned about the virus, screening and effective therapies. “Back then, about a third of our people that went to the hospital ended up in the ICU,” Lamont said, noting that now only about 20 percent go into intensive care. Fatalities in the ICU had been 22 percent, but it is now 6 percent. The median age of fatalities remain at about 80 years of age, he said.