The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Gov: No lockdown as cases rise
Region’s leaders join in rules for returning college students
The region’s governors, working together, will not impose another lockdown but are discussing a possible uniform policy to require college students going home for the holidays to get COVID tests before and after their returns, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday.
The governor, self-quarantining at his home in Greenwich after a senior staff member tested positive for COVID-19, said the raging virus — with a 7-day infection testing rate that exceeded 5 percent in Connecticut for the first time Monday — demands a regional response.
That 5.6 percent rate of positive tests, up from 3.6 percent one week ago, is the result of an average of more than 1,600 new Connecticut cases a day over the last week. College students are a focus of attention as the rates rise, both because they’re set to travel next week and because they have shown widespread lapses in distancing.
“We’re going to be very clear on what we’ve got to do,” Lamont said. “One: a 14-day quarantine, either before you leave or after you come back. Two: get tested so that when you land, we can tell that you’ve been tested. Most of you come by car, and the same protocols have got to hold.”
Lamont conceded, as he has for many of his orders since March that the state cannot enforce the rules for every person.
“I’m going to have to depend upon your good judgment to make sure, and your parents’ good judgment, your families’ good judgment that you follow the protocols, you follow the quarantine, and you follow the testing,” Lamont said. “It’s so important.”
Lamont asked Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale professor and newly named co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s task force on the coronavirus, to attend the virtual news conference, and she said the infection trend nationally “is still going in the wrong direction.”
With cases rising, Lamont — and now, NunezSmith — have fielded calls for a return to Phase 1 or some other form of a stricter shutdown, including a ban on indoor restaurant dining. Both said a broader shutdown is not necessary, though adjustments will heppen.
Retail, for example, can stay open because of what we’ve lerned about controlling the virus, Lamont said. “it’s a matter of a tailored response.”
Nunez-Smith said she believes public safety can be protected and the economy can recover, at the same time. “It’s got to be a precise adjustment of the dial, up and down,” she said. “It’s not a light switch.”
Nunez-Smith, who was on the governor’s reopening committee, said Connecticut’s strategy against the spread of the virus is a model for the nation — particularly the focus on at-risk groups, including under-served urban communities.
“That is not something that universally happened across the country,” said Nunez-Smith, associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine. “It’s to Connecticut’s, I think, credit that the focus was there early on.”
Guidance from the Department of Public Health says that students should get tested for COVID-19 before heading home for Thanksgiving and “quarantine away from their families for 14 days before mingling or socializing with family members in their home environment.” Halfway through their in-state quarantine, they should get tested again. Even if their tests are negative, they should complete the period of isolation.
Other talks over the weekend among governors and their staffs centered on the various states’ travel advisories, as infection rates soar around the nation.
“We’ve agreed that we’re going to send out strong guidance in terms of schools, in particular K through 8 education, so each of the local jurisdictions don’t get too far ahead of us there,” Lamont told reporters later in the day. “And we’re thinking broadly about what next steps and metrics might be.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday sharply reduced occupancy for indoor dining, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio kept public school open for at least one more day as the city’s infection rate closes on a 3-percent, which will trigger distance learning.
Lamont said that he was tested over the weekend with negative results, and was awaiting the results of a Monday test. He said no other members of his staff have tested positive for COVID-19 following the announcement on Friday that a staff member had tested positive.
Max Reiss, Lamont’s communications director, identified himself late Friday night as having tested positive Friday. Earlier in the day he attended an indoor news conference at the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Haven, following an explosion on the campus that killed two people.
“It was obviously an incredibly important, moving time at a hospital where there was a shocking fatality of two people in the front line,” the governor said Monday. “There were more people than I anticipated that were in there, expressing their condolences and what it meant for Connecticut.”
Asked whether that was a mistake, the Lamont said, “I think I’ll be more careful going forward.”
The staff quarantine, Lamont said, was ordered “out of an abundance of caution.” United States Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who also quarantined at home after Reiss’ announcement, returned to Washington on Monday after testing negative on Saturday and Monday. Also, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who attended the Friday news conference, tested negative.
Lamont reported a net 98 increase in the number of people being treated in Connecticut hospitals with COVID, bringing the total to 757. That’s about equal to the caseload on May 22, when cases were decreasing, and March 31, when infections were sharply increasing.
Hospitalizations peaked on April 22, when there were1,972 patients. “Hospitalizations is the number we’re looking at carefully,” Lamont said. “It’s going to be a key metric as we figure out what to do going forward.”
As measured per million residents, that hospitalization figure is nearly identical with the national average, after months in which the state trailed the nation.
The governor reported an additional 22 fatalities on Monday, bringing the death toll to 4,759. The weekend infection rate was 5.38 percent, with 4,639 reported infections out of 86,210 tests. That’s well below the current national rate of 9.8 percent.
In all, 93,284 people have tested positive in Connecticut for the virus since March.
“I think what you see is our COVID cases are ramping up, heading toward probably 100,000 cases by the end of this week,” Lamont said. “We’re probably doing more tests than any other state in the country.”
In related pandemic developments on Monday, Lamont requested authorization from President Donald Trump to extend Connecticut National Guard support in the pandemic through next June 31, plus a 100-percent federal cost share for expenses. About 1,000 National Guard troops and members of the State Militia have helped set up field hospital, nursing home inspections, testing kit operations and the pickup and delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The state had been authorized for 100-percent federal support from April 2 through September. Under current guidelines, which started Oct. 1 and are scheduled through the end of the calendar year, the federal government is paying for 75 percent of guard costs, leaving the state with an estimated $2.5-million price tag.
“Between constructing mobile field hospitals, delivering PPE, supporting the needs of nursing homes, and assisting the operations of testing sites, the Connecticut National Guard has been a critical component of our state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lamont said in a written statement. “And it must also be noted that the Guard’s support goes beyond assistance to state government – this authorization means it can provide assistance to our towns, cities, and health care providers to help protect our communities.”
The University of Connecticut said over the weekend every student must take a PCR test for COVID-19 before leaving for Thanksgiving.
UConn is under a “modified quarantine,” meaning students may attend class in person, participate in clinical placement and conduct essential research. Five residence halls were placed under quarantine last week, forcing the students to focus entirely on taking courses online.
Some UConn students are in medical quarantine or isolation will not be allowed to leave campus for Thanksgiving break, according to a statement from Eleanor J.B. Daugherty, associate vice president and dean of students.
DPH also stressed social distancing to students accustomed to reuniting with friends when home for Thanksgiving, the first time many will have seen each other since leaving for college.
“It is important that students returning home from college not attend large social gatherings or reunions, which will pose a high risk for spreading COVID-19,” the guidance advised.