Hospitalizations dwindle to few in region, and surge is not anticipated

New London — Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s COVID-19 inpatient count has “plateaued” at about five in recent days, and hospital officials are not anticipating a significant increase in the number in the wake of the state’s reopening of nonessential businesses or this past weekend’s Black Lives Matter protests.

With the number of cases shrinking, L+M is likely to soon ease its restrictions on visitors, Dr. Oliver Mayorga, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said Tuesday in an interview.

L+M had four COVID-19 inpatients Tuesday, the 14th consecutive day it has had fewer than 10.

Westerly Hospital, like L+M an affiliate of Yale New Haven Health, hasn’t admitted a patient with the coronavirus disease in at least a week, and Backus Hospital in Norwich, a member of the Hartford HealthCare network, has had few COVID-19 inpatients in recent days, including three Tuesday.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s office reported 87 new COVID-19 cases statewide, raising the cumulative total to 44,179. Thirteen additional deaths associated with the disease pushed the toll to 4,097, while hospitalizations fell by 31 to 293. New tests for the disease totaled 4,658.

COVID-19 cases in New London County grew to 1,059 confirmed by laboratory tests and 63 considered “probable.” Ninety-six deaths of county residents have been linked to the disease, including 71 confirmed and 25 probable.

Hartford HealthCare relaxed visitor restrictions at its hospitals this week, allowing one visitor per nonCOVID-19 patient in acute and ambulatory areas. Visitors must submit to

COVID-19 screening, wear a mask and maintain physical distancing.

Hospitals started prohibiting visitors in mid-March, when the coronavirus outbreak surfaced.

“It’s very good news,” Mayorga said of the decline in L+M’s COVID-19 caseload.

He said L+M officials had projected a slight increase in cases as a result of the state’s May 20 easing of restric

tions on nonessential businesses and could easily incorporate the potential impact of the protests prompted by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The June 1 reopening of southeastern Connecticut’s casinos also could affect COVID-19 infection rates, some believe.

“We’re still comfortable handling any increase in volumes due to these events. That hasn’t changed,” Mayorga said. “One thing that’s a little bit difficult to determine is whether these protests were infective events. We’re going to be watching that very closely.”

Given that thousands of protesters gathered Saturday and Sunday in New London and Groton, as well as in smaller numbers in municipalities around the region, it’s safe to assume “not everybody was wearing a mask and social distancing wasn’t the norm,” Mayorga said.

However, he said he was most concerned about protesters from outside the region.

“Our prevalence (rate of infection) here is below 2% but once you introduce people from other areas of the country, all bets are out the window,” he said.

Mayorga said those who contract COVID-19 typically develop symptoms about five days after being exposed to the disease. With that in mind, he recommended that protesters who develop the symptoms — fever, chills, a cough, loss of smell — have themselves tested. Even those who don’t have symptoms should do so, he added.

“There’s very little barrier to testing these days,” Mayorga said.

In the final analysis, the public health threat protests pose may be largely mitigated by their open-air nature. Outdoor transmission of COVID-19 is rare, a fact the governor stressed in limiting restaurants to outside dining in the first phase of his plan for reopening the state’s economy. The second phase, including inside dining, is set to begin June 17.

“The biggest transmission takes place inside, in schools, churches,” Mayorga said. “I feel pretty good about outside gatherings.”