6-week-old with virus dies
Lamont: Baby may be world’s youngest fatality
HAVEN — Another 429 residents were diagnosed with COVID-19 and 16 more fatalities were reported in Connecticut during the latest 24-hour period, continuing along the anticipated trend as the state prepares for the peak infections sometime in April, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Wednesday.
A baby, who was found to have COVID-19 during an autopsy, is among the latest fatalities, and possibly the youngest coronaviNEW rus-related death worldwide. But Dr. James Gill, the chief medical examiner, said the actual cause of death has not yet been established.
“The infant did test positive for the COVID-19 virus and an autopsy was done at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner,” Gill said in an email. “At the current time, we have not issued a final cause of death. There are numerous tests that we must do on infant deaths before issuing a final cause of death. We cannot discuss the specifics of an investigation.”
Lamont, speaking at the Southern Connecticut State University field house after a brief tour of a 200-bed field hospital set up there in just a few hours by the Connecticut National Guard, said the 6-week-old infant, from the Hartford area, was brought unresponsive to a hospital late last week and could not be revived. Lamont said testing confirmed Tuesday night that the child was COVID-19-positive.
Turning to the back-toback 16 fatalities over two days, the governor said testing continues to “ramp up” across the state, and state officials have been in touch with a company that has a 15-minute COVID-19 test.
Overall, 3,557 people across Connecticut have been confirmed as COVID-19-positive, with that number expected to increase greatly in the coming weeks. Eighty five have died.
“We are predicting that the worst weeks are ahead of us in the upcoming month of April,” said Dr. Steven Choi, chief quality officer for Yale Medicine and Yale New Haven Health System.
There are over 250 soldiers, many with two tours of duty Afghanistan, from the Connecticut National Guard helping in Connecticut, according to Maj. Gen. Francis J. Evon Jr, adjutant general and commanding officer of the Connecticut National Guard. Evon, Choi and Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer, also participated in the news conference underneath an outdoor entranceway to the Moore Field House at SCSU.
Lamont said grocery stores have been ordered to only allow 50 percent capacity at grocery stores. And he has ordered insurance companies to provide 60-day grace periods for those who cannot make monthly premium payments during the pandemic.
The Insurance Association of Connecticut, representing both property & casualty insurers and life insurance carriers, but not health insurers, said members have alreadysuspended cancellations of policies for non-payment.
The Connecticut Association of Health Plans have enacted similar measures, officials said in a statement.
Lamont praised a new non-profit group that is using seed money from 20 philanthropists who have pledged $10 million for new program to help non-profit agencies facing the cornoavirus, Gov. Ned Lamont announced earlier Wednesday.
Called “4-CT,” the private group, organized by regional foundations throughout the state, was set up with existing service delivery agencies, including childcare for hospital workers, housing and food.
“This is when we need the money fast,” Lamont said in a noontime conference call with reporters and leaders of three of the regional charitable foundations. “Early money is like yeast,” said the governor, who has made a personal contribution to the organization, which includes anonymous donations from at least three individuals.
The organization’s formal name is the Connecticut COVID-19 Charity Connection.
Ted Yang, a start-up investor who will be the chief operating officer, said an initial study is underway, and that even small donations will be accepted. “We are working together with the community foundations aand otehr nonprofits to udnerstand the need on the ground,” he said.
Also on Wednesday, Chief Court Administrator Patrick L. Carroll III announced that in addition to the closure of Stamford Superior Court Monday night, the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District Courthouse in Milford and the Middlesex Judicial District Courthouse in Middletown will also close temporarily at the close of business Wednesday. Cases will be transferred to the nearby courthosues in Bridgeport and New Britain.
“A careful analysis of the business coming into these two courthouses indicates that they can be safely closed without compromising our ability to continue conducting our constitutionally mandated work at remaining, open, Judicial Branch locations,” Carroll said in a statement.
In other pandemic developments on Wednesday, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo said that as the spread of the virus gains a foothold, the $170 million deficit in the budget set to expire June 30 will probably increase, as tax collections fall sharply and state expenses soar.
In his first monthly assessment of finances since the pandemic’s first fatality last month, Lembo said the new deficit is more than $110 million than the last time the Office of Policy and Management looked at the fiscal landscape. Withholding taxes have dropped by $130 million and dakles taxes have fallen off by $30 million.
“The speed and scale of the pandemic’s economic disruptions are unprecedented for Connecticut,” Lembo said in a statement. “As a result, the full extent of the impact is not yet clear and may take weeks, if not months, to determine. The current year deficit could, and likely will, grow larger.
Fortunately, the budget reserve is about $2.5 billion.
“The state has made enormous progress in building the Budget Reserve Fund balance over the past two years,” Lembo said. “That effort required sacrifice and discipline. Now, as the state faces an unexpected public health and economic crisis, Connecticut is better positioned to meet the challenge.”
Lembo called for further support through unemployment insurance; businesses to keep employees; and strengthening the Medicaid social safety net.