The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Blumenthal visits hospital’s COVID test clinic
TORRINGTON — In spite of the snowy weather Friday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal visited a COVID-19 test clinic at Coe Memorial Park’s civic center to say hello to the staff.
The clinic is one of five scheduled at the civic center and provided by Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, which is part of the Hartford HealthCare network. The snowstorm didn’t deter the health care staff from showing up for work, and residents were lined up to be tested.
“I was there just to say thank you, because they’ve given so much and endured so much during this last couple of years of hardship and heartbreak,” he said. “And now, when they’re on the verge of burnout and exhaustion, there’s another surge. That was the powerful message from health care workers today.”
A nurse told the senator that at one point, 500 people in the Hartford HealthCare system were hospitalized with COVID-19, and only seven of them were vaccinated.
“The nurses there said there’s an overwhelming number of people in the hospital, especially in the ICU, who are unvaccinated,” he said. “So now, this is a disease of the unvaccinated.” CHH and partner organizations like Community Health & Wellness of Greater Torrington began holding testing clinics right after the new year. Torrington also received a quantity of at-home test kits and, after some delays experienced by towns across the state, the city was able to distribute them to residents and provide them to essential city staff, emergency service workers, firefighters and police.
“I wanted to hear from the nurses and hospital staff about the new challenges they’re facing, with so many of their colleagues being out sick because of the virus, too,” Blumenthal said. “We also talked about making even more of an emphasis of vaccines and booster shots.
“The hospital was powerfully eloquent on how people are at risk when people fail to take care of themselves with the booster and vaccines that are available,” he said. “It’s a mystery to me how people would fall for the misinformation that’s out there.”
“It’s hard for health care workers, and for me, to understand someone who refuses this life-saving boon,” Blumenthal said. “But they said to me, ‘We’re gong to take care of these folks, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated and boosted or not. But we sure wish everyone would do it.’”
On Friday, the state Department of Public Health reported another 10,076 cases with 24.5 percent of tests returning positive results, topping yet again the previous record set earlier this week. There were 1,810 patients hospitalized with the virus on Friday in Connecticut, an increase of 26 from the previous day. More than two-thirds of those patients were not fully vaccinated, according to the report.
Blumenthal pointed to reports saying that those who have been vaccinated and tested positive were not as sick, with few or no symptoms.
“Hopefully that means we’re nearing this stage where we can conquer it,” he said. “These are the trends that these viruses take, which is encouraging, but there’s also a possibility of a more dangerous variant, through mutation.”
Whatever happens, the senator encouraged people to get their vaccines, and to treat their community’s health care workers with respect and thanks.
“They’re all part of a team,” he said. “One of the workers at the clinic said that hospitals have 230 different job descriptions, and every single one is important, from the person who cleans the ventilators, to the people to take blood, to the person that analyzes it ... They’re all part of a team, trying to help people.” He praised CHH’s team.
“I’ve visited them on many occasions, and I’m always impressed with their standard of care,” he said.