Officials statewide curb parties to stop COVID spike in youth
Don Lowe has never seen Candlewood Lake this busy.
Boat traffic is up in Connecticut’s largest lake, and tie-ups are a common sight. Lowe, Sherman’s first selectman, has heard anecdotally that canoes and kayaks are completely out of stock at local sporting goods stores. Noise complaints from lakeside residents in Sherman and New Fairfield are up over last summer.
And use of the manmade body of water’s 12 islands has been so intense — an “Uber-like” service has emerged to ferry residents from mainland to the islands, according to Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton — that authorities have struggled to keep up with the removal of garbage and human waste.
“The lake has never been this crowded,” Lowe said. “It’s never had the kind of use that it’s had this year. It’s something that’s going to have to be examined going forward.”
The issue reached a breaking point last week when Lowe, along with other lakeside community leaders and organizations, closed 11 Candlewood Lake islands to stop off-shore gatherings and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The gatherings, primarily of teens and young
adults, are not unique to Candlewood Lake, or bodies of water, in general.
Officials around the state are dealing with a sudden increase in coronavirus cases in teens and young adults, even as rates of infection in other demographic groups are decreasing. In recent weeks, the cohort of Connecticut residents aged 10 to 29 accounted for nearly 43 percent of all new cases, up from about 12 percent in the beginning of April and just over 17 percent in early June.
Gov. Ned Lamont issued a joint statement with state Department of Public Health Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford, expressing concern over the uptick among teens and young adults. A July party of private high school students in Greenwich recently made national headlines and was cited as the cause of 22 new cases in town. And some elected officials have noted gatherings of young people could hamper Connecticut’s relative success in controlling the spread of the virus.
“Recently, I’ve seen some gatherings on private property that make me very uncomfortable,” Hamden Mayor Curt B. Leng said. “Because Connecticut had been doing so well with our COVID numbers, I’m afraid many people are mistaking that for a green light to relax mask wearing and social distancing needs. If we want to keep Connecticut in a healthier position, we have to keep up these efforts and be resilient.”
According to officials, it’s clear gatherings of young people are contributing to the spread of the virus.
And those gatherings have been occurring, at least to some extent, in and around water.
‘Be careful for your family and loved ones’
Data from the state Department of Public Health shows a recent trend of rising new coronavirus cases among teens and young adults, even as the total number of cases statewide has decreased. Disproportionately, those in the 10-to-19 and 20-to-29 cohort — though experts say people age 18 to 22 are mostly driving the trend — have been diagnosed with new cases, while also recording no new deaths since early May.
“I don’t want to generalize and say it’s just young people, but I think young people know there is less of a chance for them of having a severe illness,” said Dr. Zane Saul, chief of infectious disease at Bridgeport Hospital. “Some (are) not being as careful as they need to be.”
Taken together, those two groups accounted for a little over 12 percent of all new cases the week of April 6.
But on July 6, after a holiday weekend when many were seen on beaches shirking the distancing protocol, the 20-to-29 group accounted for more than a quarter of all new cases in the state. And on July 27, the two groups combined accounted for more than 42 percent of all new cases.
In the week leading up to June 22, there were 25 cases in the 10-to-19 group and 121 among those 20 to 29. Just over a month later, there were 174 new cases in the younger cohort and 240 in those in their 20s.
Dr. Asha Shah, an infectious disease physician at Stamford Health, said
there could be another increase near the end of August, as there will be widespread, mandatory testing of college students returning to campus. The University of Connecticut, for example, is requiring all students living on campus to be tested upon arrival.
“We may pick up more cases than we would have if we weren’t doing all that testing,” Shah said. “And I think nationally we may see a rise because of that. It will likely be an increase, though I don’t know that it will necessarily be a spike.”
Meanwhile, the number of cases in older cohorts has gone down.
On June 1, roughly 24 percent of all new cases were in residents 80 and above.On July 27, the 80and-older group accounted for just .1 percent of new cases.
Whereas, at the 80-andolder’s peak in April when there were 1,210 new cases in a week, there was just one new case in this group between July 20 and 27.
In general, Shah said that drop-off may have something to do with older people taking distancing measures more seriously than other groups. But, most significantly, early, highly fatal outbreaks in the state nursing homes and assisted living facilities have largely been controlled.
As of last week, Shah said, the number of new positive cases in nursing homes and assisted living facilities throughout the state was less than 10.
“The nursing home data is astounding,” Shah said. “They’ve been really aggressive in regular testing of residents and staff.”
But still, for Connecticut residents 70 and up, the virus carries a very real fatal risk. In the week leading
up to July 27, the 70and-over group accounted for less than 4 percent of all new cases in Connecticut but roughly 88 percent (15 of 17 in total) of deaths in that span.
Given the data, a feeling of youthful invincibility may not be entirely unwarranted. But, Saul said, the point of limiting gatherings is to protect those people in more at-risk groups with whom younger, potentially exposed residents may inevitably come into contact.
“We’re spreading the message that, you might be young and healthy and feel like nothing bad can happen to you,” Saul said. “But it’s about protecting those people around you. That’s the message. If you can’t be careful for yourself, be careful for your family and loved ones.”
A battle on land and at sea
Water, especially in the heat of a pandemic summer, has emerged as a unique challenge, both in lakeside communities, like Sherman, and in coastal ones in Fairfield County.
Both Lowe and New Fairfield First Selectman Pat Del Monaco speculated the unprecedented crowds that have descended on the water this summer were the result of limited other options. Capacity at restaurants, gyms and movie theaters is limited and all require masks. And many public parks closed in the area.
On the Long Island Sound, boat tie-ups and gatherings on coastal islands have also proved problematic. Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said last week she was contemplating action to limit gatherings on the water, though there has been no official announcement. In the span between July 20 and 28, the town had 12 total cases. Nine of those diagnosed were young people between 10 and 29, Stevenson said.
“We’re a coastal community,” she said. “Young people like to go out on boats, rafting-up and tyingup. I’m considering giving an order to disallow water gatherings for the duration of the summer because I think that just entices people to gather.”
Sgt. Kevin Fitzgibbons, who heads Stamford Police Department’s Marine Unit, said he hasn’t noticed any particular uptick in activity this summer. But he said use of the water also isn’t down as a result of the pandemic.
Mostly, he’s seen families out on the water. But, in the event of a larger gathering, his unit is somewhat limited in what they can do, based on the location of the group.
“It all depends on where and what they’re doing,” Fitzgibbons said. “If there are restrictions in the area that prohibit that — if it’s in the coastal harbor or in a channel — we can say, ‘That’s not allowed.’ But in an area that has no restrictions on tying up, you just advise that it isn’t a great idea.”
Issues of enforcement are a concern on Candlewood Lake, as well.
Lowe and Del Monaco said the Candlewood Lake Authority would be responsible for patrolling the islands and ensuring they’re not in use. But based on personnel and equipment, the organization’s capacity to do so is limited.
Lowe and Del Monaco said they hope to receive some support from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the state Environmental Conservation Police.
Barring a larger fleet of patrol boats, or more comprehensive restrictions on gatherings, officials in these waterside communities will likely need to rely on buyin from their residents. That includes teens and young adults.
“I’m not naive that it’s going to completely eliminate the gatherings on these islands,” Lowe said. “But it does make it illegal to gather out there now and that’s an important distinction to make.”