New Canaan COVID cases cut in half, schools down two-thirds

NEW CANAAN — While the demand for town-administered COVID-19 tests remain high, confirmed cases dropped to 156 cases last week, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. That is a drop from 296 cases on reported earlier in the month, according to the town website.

Concurrently, the school district reported 46 confirmed student cases as of Friday afternoon, compared to 123 on Jan. 10, according to the district dashboard.

Moynihan also announced that because of a high demand for tests, the town will be administering additional testing, up to three days a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The town’s drop in cases is consistent with the “substantial decrease like that which is occurring across Connecticut,” the first selectman said. However, “we know that our current cases in New Canaan are most likely higher, because of at-home COVID-19 tests,” since they are not reported to the health department.

To keep better track of the total number of cases, the town’s Director of Health Jen Eielson is asking residents to complete a short form on the town website to report them.

That way, “she can better understand the real number of positive cases, unreported break-through vaccination cases and evaluate scope of severity of local cases,” Moynihan said. Families with children in child care, school and sports are already required to report positive home tests.

The overall absentees of teachers and students due to COVID-19, whether quarantined or by testing positive, was down to 61 Friday, according to the district dashboard. That total sat at 254 on Jan. 10. By the end of the week there were seven teachers reported out with COVID-19 and eight students in quarantine.

“Gov. Lamont reported yesterday that 67.9 percent of the 1,805 currently hospitalized in CT are not fully vaccinated. This is a decline of over 100 in hospitalizations in comparison to the previous week,” Moynihan said.

He added that town officials “strongly encourage” those who still have not gotten the vaccine, but are eligible, to do so and to get boosted.

For those interested in obtaining free at-home tests, which will be mailed directly to residences via the USPS, visit www.covidtests.gov.