Hartford leaders to Murphy: More help needed

As fall approaches and COVID-19 relief runs out, senator hears ‘it really feels like the worst is yet to come’

HARTFORD — When U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy asked a roundtable of Hartford leaders Friday what keeps them up at night as the coronavirus pandemic stretches on, they shared worries about mom and pop businesses closing, overwhelmed health care systems and a struggle to keep schools and community agencies open.

“We’re at the tip of the iceberg. I think what’s coming down the road is going to be a lot more terrible than what we see right now,” state Rep. Ed Vargas, D-Hartford, said inside Parker Memorial Community Center in the North End. “It really feels like the worst is yet to come.”

At the Friday morning conversation with representatives of city government and nonprofits Murphy sought insight into the needs of Connecticut communities as he pushes for a future COVID-19 relief package, one larger than the so-called “skinny” relief bill Republican senators failed to pass last week.

Vargas told Murphy of struggling, family owned businesses in the South End of Hartford, while Hartford Health Director Liany Arroyo attested to the lack of school-based COVID-19 testing, which she and the school system say will be vital to keeping schools open through the fall.

Hartford Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez shared that she faced two main obstacles in the ramp up to the new school year, which began on Sept. 9: a lack of funding to pay for additional staff, and a shortage of people to hire.

Torres-Rodriguez said it may take up to five years to recover from the educational setbacks due to the pandemic.

“That’s a giant amount of impact for the students in our community that have, already, additional layers of challenges, given where they happen to live in high needs communities,” the superintendent said.

Dr. Anand Sekaran told Murphy the pandemic feels like “a bubbling situation,” where his hospital, Connecticut Children’s, is trying to respond to a number of problems caused by COVID-19 and children’s isolation these past six months.

There’s been a spike in behavioral health issues leading to hospitalizations, such as eating disorders and suicide attempts, Sekaran said, and families continue to deal with challenges like poor reimbursement from insurance and a shortage of psychiatric placements.

Winter will bring the hospital’s busiest season, he added, and there’s not enough