COVID cases dip, vaccination rate ticks up in Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT — A month after Mayor Joe Ganim reinstituted the city’s indoor mask mandate, the number of coronavirus cases in Bridgeport has dipped, shifting Connecticut’s largest city out of the “red alert” high transmission zone it was in during late August.
But there are no plans to reverse the current indoor masking requirement, said Ebony JacksonShaheed, whom the mayor recently promoted from acting to permanent health director.
“I think we’ve learned from the past when we see numbers starting to go low and then removing some of the mandates too early, how that could possibly have an effect on the community,” Jackson-Shaheed said.
She noted under state and federal guidelines there remains “substantial risk” for virus transmission.
Meanwhile just over half — 57.8 percent — of Bridgeport residents have been inoculated with the first dose of three available vaccines, two of which require two shots to be fully effective.
“It’s good to see the (case) numbers are trending slightly down” in Bridgeport, Dr. Steven Valassis, chair of emergency medicine at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, said Friday. “The fact the numbers aren’t going up is something we should all be thankful for.”
But, he cautioned, “We really need to drive the vaccination rate here in the city up to help protect our citizens.”
Out of the red zone
According to recent state data released, Bridgeport had 11.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people as of Sept. 11, and, prior to that, 12.5 cases per 100,000. That puts the city in the “orange” on Connecticut’s color-coded transmission map — in a better place than other large municipalities including Stamford, Norwalk, Waterbury, New Haven and Hartford.
Of those cities, Stamford had 13.1 cases per 100,000, Norwalk 12.6 cases and the latter three remain at red alert, having 15 or more coronavirus case per 100,000: 18.6 in Waterbury, 17.7 in New Haven and 20.1 in Hartford.
While it was unclear exactly what factors led to the recent reversal of Bridgeport’s numbers out of that red zone, Valassis said the mask mandate “for sure” had some impact.
At the height of the global pandemic last year Gov. Ned Lamont exercised his emergency powers to impose public health regulations like masking on citizens. He has since ceded that authority to municipalities, resulting in a patchwork of rules around Connecticut.
And enforcement of those rules can also be different from municipality to municipality. Asked if Bridgeport’s health department, which last year would proactively inspect and close businesses that did not follow COVID restrictions, was similarly strictly enforcing the revived indoor masking requirement, Jackson-Shaheed indicated only as part of her office’s routine inspections.
In contrast New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and his health chief, Maritza Bond, who formerly ran Bridgeport’s health department, earlier this month made random visits to New Haven businesses to check for masking compliance.
Elicker also recently began requiring 2,000 city employees to get vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus testing.
“We have 85 percent of individuals in compliance at this juncture,” Bond said Friday, meaning staff who have either received their shots or registered to be tested.
“It was important for us ... to safely reopen all of our departments so we can ensure the employees feel safe not only with their peers but also when we’re serving the public,” Bond said.
Lamont similarly is requiring state workers to get vaccinated, and the mayors of Stamford and Norwalk established their own inoculation mandates.
Ganim has announced no such initiative and Jackson-Shaheed declined to say whether it was on the table in Bridgeport. She first deferred to state guidance, then said, “We are considering many measures to keep our employees safe.”
Promoting vaccination
The city earlier this summer focused on promoting vaccines to parents/guardians and eligible children 12 and over to protect households as schools reopen.
“A month and a half ago we were below 50 percent in terms of vaccinations,” Jackson-Shaheed said. “To be at 57 percent of at least people getting their first vaccination, that says a lot. In about 28 days we’ll actually have those people, hopefully, completely vaccinated.”
But, vaccination-wise, Bridgeport trails the rest of Fairfield County, including Stamford with its 76.57 percent rate and Norwalk’s 73.53 percent rate, as well as New Haven’s 60.71 percent vaccinated rate. Hartford stands at 52.7 percent and Waterbury at 57.02 percent.
“We have been appalling in Bridgeport with COVID,” said City Councilwoman Maria Pereira, who had opposed JacksonShaheed’s recent promotion to permanent health chief and questioned why Ganim has not required employees get vaccinated.
“They should want to be protected and also want to protect the public,” Pereira said.
Jackson-Shaheed succeeds Lisa Morrissey, who took over for Bond in spring 2020 near the beginning of the pandemic and resigned abruptly in January. An epidemiologist, Jackson-Shaheed was initially hired in March as a consultant to help fill the leadership vacuum and Ganim made her acting health director later that month.
Connecticut’s patchwork of COVID enforcement has also applied to private sector vaccination requirements. For example, on Friday the Foo Fighters played Bridgeport’s new concert amphitheater. The mega-star rock band required ticket-holders provide proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test — something neither Lamont, Ganim nor the venue normally mandates.
Jackson-Shaheed did not express interest in expanding vaccine mandates here similar to New York City, where proof of shots are required for indoor dining, fitness centers and indoor concerts and other entertainment. Televised advertisements promoting those rules are running in the Bridgeport area.
“New York City is a lot more populated than Connecticut,” Jackson-Shaheed said. “Connecticut is ahead of a lot of states (with) almost 80 percent of the population vaccinated. So, to be honest, that works in our favor. I think as long as we continue doing what we’re doing, we’ll see the benefits.”
‘We’re still learning’
Besides continuing to spread the vaccines, Jackson-Shaheed and her department are ramping up coronavirus testing.
“It goes right along with vaccinations,” she said. “If you catch something in the earlier stages, the more likely we are to prevent the spread through the population.”
Asked where she anticipated Bridgeport might be come later this fall and over the winter — there was a spike in cases during the cold months last year just as the inoculations were being approved and launched by the federal government and state — Jackson Shaheed said, “Most diseases are cyclical.
“One thing we’ve learned with COVID is that we’re still learning,” she said. “What I will say is for residents to continue to practice all the measures they’re practicing now — making sure you’re masking, washing hands, social distancing and vaccinated. So exhausting all protective measures you have.”