‘ IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE’
Bridgeport surpasses 10,000 COVID cases
As the week drew to a close, Bridgeport crested 10,000 cumulative coronavirus cases — a sad milestone for Connecticut’s largest city but, experts said, not an unexpected one.
On Friday, when Gov. Ned Lamont announced the state’s latest COVID- 19 numbers, Bridgeport had reached 10,053 positive cases since the pandemic struck in mid- March — the most of any community.
Despite the milestone number of positive cases, Bridgeport is slightly behind three other cities
in terms of total COVID- 19- related fatalities so far: 193 versus Stamford’s 224, Waterbury’s 223 and Hartford’s 199.
The Park City’s march to 10,000 is not shocking, said Dr. Zane Saul, chief of infectious disease at Bridgeport Hospital.
“It reflects what we’re seeing — we have about 100 patients hospitalized,” he said. “Many of them are in the ICU. Many of them are on ventilators. We’re still increasing and the predictions are that it’s not going to get better any time soon. It’s going to get worse.”
Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration for months has sought to educate residents about how to stay healthy — wear masks, avoid large gatherings and socially distance, wash hands — and has told them to be tested. Those efforts have ramped up recently with the virus’ expected second wave hitting following a summer during which Connecticut was one of the few states that seemed to have case growth under control.
Ganim’s communications director, Rowena White, when asked about the 10,000 figure again urged citizens to be careful.
“Bridgeport officials remind residents to continue to follow COVID protocols to protect themselves and their loved ones,” she responded.
She also pointed out that Bridgeport has one of the highest rates of coronavirus tests administered in the state.
Saul agreed that there is more testing for COVID- 19 now than there had been in the first wave, and that might be at least partly responsible for the high numbers of confirmed infections. However, he said, it does not completely explain the increase.
“Of course there’s more testing, but the hospitals are full,” Saul said. “People are sick. People are in the hospital. We should all be very scared.”
Indeed, though Bridgeport has the highest number of cases in the state, it did not have the highest number of tests. As of Thursday, 142,611 people in Bridgeport had been tested for COVID- 19, compared with 163,557 in New Haven and 179,650 in Hartford.
Bridgeport’s high numbers are likely also linked to the fact that urban areas tend to be more densely populated, with people living closer together, said Dr. Daniel Gottschall, vice president of medical affairs for the Fairfield region of Hartford HealthCare and St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport.
“It’s probably harder to socially distance in these kinds of places, as we’ve seen in communities such as Manhattan and the Bronx” in New York, Gottschall said.
But, like Saul, Gottschall said the rise in Bridgeport is part of an overall rise in COVID- 19 — one that will likely continue at least into January. The good news, Gottschall said, is that vaccines are starting to get rolled out, which means there could be an end in sight.
In the meantime, he said, people everywhere need to continue practicing COVID- 19 precautions.
“People need to be responsible this holiday season,” he said. Saul echoed those thoughts. “Try to stay inside and socially distance,” he said. “Try to wear masks. Let’s wait for the vaccine.”
Bridgeport City Council President Aidee Nieves has been in quarantine for more than a week because a relative was diagnosed with COVID- 19. She said Ganim’s administration has done a good job over the past several months increasing the availability of testing and getting the message out about what to do to stop the illness from spreading.
“There are still those in our community exhibiting irresponsible behaviors ( and) impacting the numbers,” Nieves said Friday. “People want ( cases) to go down, but don’t want to adhere to the policies. ... We can’t police your lifestyle.”
Nieves said one possible solution would be for the governor to again shut down the state, as was done in March. As the diagnoses dropped, businesses were slowly re- opened in phases in May, June and this fall before Lamont rolled back some of those relaxed restrictions, such as indoor capacity limits.
Nieves noted how on Friday New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo again banned indoor dining in New York City — a measure Lamont so far has refused to reinstate in the face of significant political pressure from that industry.
“I would like to see ( a shutdown) for health reasons,” Nieves said. But, she added, the federal government must first approve a new economic package that could help closed businesses and the unemployed get through however long a new round of closures would last.
“For people that I represent in my community, another shutdown could be disastrous,” Nieves said, speculating many restaurants would be unable to reopen. “The federal government has to get its act together. ... The people need money to be able to survive. The stimulus checks needs to come out again.”
Ganim’s office just this week announced that it would begin seeking applications from small businesses that want to receive maximum $ 25,000 grants from $ 1 million worth of federal assistance that the mayor first announced was available in April.