70% of adults vaccinated, but rate is slowing
Connecticut has led the country in its COVID-19 vaccination rollout, but demand is starting to slip as the state moves toward threefourths of adults having received at least one shot. With the number of people seeking shots slowing, the state is getting creative, offering new incentives and finding new ways to reach those who haven’t yet received a vaccine.
The big story
Seventy percent of Connecticut adults have at least one COVID-19 shot but rate is slowing:
Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday that he expected more than 70% of adults in Connecticut to have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the week, far outstripping the goal laid out by President Joe Biden, who is pushing for 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose by July 4.
But while the state still ranks high nationally for its overall vaccination rate, Connecticut has not been immune to slipping demand for shots, and data reported to the CDC show the number of new vaccinations in the past week was less than half the number in the first week of April. With demand dropping, the state is undertaking a number of efforts to reach those who have not yet been vaccinated.
At UConn’s upcoming graduations, for example, students, as well as their friends and families, can receive shots without an appointment at the Pratt & Whitney runway near Rentschler Field, where commencements are being held. The state Department of Public Health is also partnering with historically African-American sororities and fraternities to promote COVID-19 vaccination and increase vaccination rates in Black communities. And the Hartford Yard Goats are offering vaccines at their first home games, with four free tickets for those who get a shot.
Five things you may have missed
House OKs early voting constitutional amendment:
Early in-person voting moved a step closer to reality in Connecticut on Thursday as the state House of Representatives gave bipartisan approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that Connecticut voters could have the final say on in November 2022. More than 40 other states have early voting, but in Connecticut voters who do not cast absentee ballots must show up at the polls from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on one Tuesday in November.
While Republicans have raised concerns about expanding absentee ballot access, they have been more supportive of early voting, which would be conducted in person with the same safeguards as on Election Day. In the complicated process to amend the state constitution, the measure was approved by lawmakers in 2019 and must be approved again this year.
If the amendment is approved by voters, the legislature would decide how many days of early voting there would be.
Pandemic-inspired telehealth law extended two years:
Lawmakers unanimously approved a two-year extension of expanded telehealth coverage that was adopted last year as many residents opted for virtual doctor’s visits during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through June 30, 2023, insurers must cover telehealth appointments at the same rate as regular trips to the doctor’s office. ‘
The bill also expands the types of providers who can offer telehealth to include dentists, athletic trainers, art therapists and midwives, among others. And it allows patients to qualify for state medical marijuana via telehealth consultations and allows providers to offer audio-only telehealth services.
The measure drew broad support from numerous health care providers who said telehealth visits exploded in 2020 compared to past years. Insurers had opposed a previous bill that offered an indefinite extension of the telehealth law, instead urging lawmakers to support a study of the matter.
Regulators propose $30M penalty for Eversource over Isaias response: Connecticut regulators are proposing a $30 million penalty against Eversource Energy for its failure to prepare properly for and respond to Tropical Storm Isaias last August. United Illuminating, which serves customers in the New Haven area, faces a potential $2.1 million fine.
The penalties are both the maximum allowed under state law. For Eversource, $28.4 million would be returned to ratepayers as credits on their bills and a fine of $1.6 million would be paid to the state.
“Eversource failed its customers and put Connecticut families at risk after Tropical Storm Isaias. Eversource must pay for their failures,” Attorney General William Tong said in a statement released by his office. The storm left as many as 1 million customers of both utilities without power for as long as nine days. The utilities have defended their response, saying Isaias was far more destructive than anticipated.
Legislative leaders say state can afford pay hikes to avoid nursing home strike:
With workers at 33 nursing homes in Connecticut prepared to strike beginning May 14 over concerns about pay and health care, legislative leaders said they believe the state can afford to boost Medicaid reimbursement rates to provide the homes with additional money to pay workers.
Workers represented by SEIU District 1199 New England make anywhere from $12 to $15 an hour, according to the union. They are asking for minimum pay of $20 an hour plus increased staffing, as well as improved health insurance.
“The workers that had to go into the fire … are these nursing home workers at the long-term care facilities. We have to help them,” House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said this past week.
Connecticut has a record-setting budget reserve fund and billions in federal coronavirus relief funding on the way.
Regents pick new president of state colleges, universities: Terrence Cheng, director of UConn’s Stamford campus, was chosen Friday as the new president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system after a six-month search.
Cheng, who will begin in his new role July 2, will be responsible for overseeing the state’s four regional universities, dozen community colleges and the online Charter Oak College. Lamont, who met with Cheng before he was offered the job, said he “has the unique combination of skills and expertise necessary to build off CSCU’s successes while undertaking the critically important efforts to improve student success and equity measures.”
Chief among Cheng’s responsibilities will be seeing through the Students First initiative to merge the dozen community colleges into one institution that has been met with pushback from faculty. The system is also facing coronavirus-related declines in revenue and enrollment. Cheng will be paid $360,000 a year.
Odds and ends
Bobby Valentine, the former Major League Baseball manager who led clubs including the New York Mets and, for a season, the Boston Red Sox, has officially entered the mayor’s race in his hometown of Stamford.
Valentine, 70, will run as an unaffiliated candidate. He currently works as athletic director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. Incumbent Mayor David Martin is facing a Democratic primary challenge from state Rep. Caroline Simmons. … Larry Lazor, an OB/GYN from West Hartford, announced his candidacy Wednesday for Congress in the 1st District. Lazor is pitching himself as a moderate Republican. “With social issues, I’m liberal,” he said. “With fiscal issues, I’m conservative. That’s a message that’s true to my heart and my brain, and that’s what I think Connecticut voters will embrace.” … Travis Brimm has been picked to manage Lamont’s 2022 reelection campaign, according to Courant columnist Kevin Rennie, though the governor has yet to formally declare that he will seek another term. Brimm comes to Connecticut from Mississippi. His experience includes managing New Mexico Democrat Ben Ray Lujan’s U.S. Senate bid in 2020 and as director of Biden’s Democratic primary campaign in North Carolina. For now, Brimm is working with the Connecticut Democratic Party. … Sen. Richard Blumenthal is proposing $500 million in federal aid for minor-league baseball teams that were forced to cancel the 2020 season due to the COVID19 pandemic. “Minor league baseball is in peril,” he said during a news conference on Monday. “We did it for restaurants, theater, live music. Baseball deserves as much.” Yard Goats President Tim Restall said 2020 was a “challenging year.” The team’s home opener for 2021 is Tuesday against the Portland Sea Dogs. … Chris Dodd, who represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for three decades, is the leading contender to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland, according to Politico. Dodd is close with Biden, whom he served alongside in the Senate for years. In October 2019, he introduced Biden at a campaign fundraiser at Lamont’s Greenwich home where hundreds of thousands of dollars was raised for the former vice president.