The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)

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to a breakdown that has left Connecticu­t nonprofits accusing Gov. Ned Lamont of reneging on a promise to provide them with much-needed personal protective gear. The added costs to the struggling agencies is devastatin­g. Ability Beyond in Bethel reports spending $90,000 on gear. The need for many of these agencies’ services is only likely to increase in months to come, and supporting them with PPE now would not only save money later, but would be cheaper for the state than for the nonprofits. The governor’s office continues to pledge to deliver the goods, but it’s chilling to hear the agencies say things such as “we’re assuming we’re on our own.”

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to a growing crisis at Connecticu­t hospitals that could bring a collective loss of some $1.5 billion this fiscal year. The cancelatio­n of elective procedures and the reallocati­on of resources to deal with COVID-19 patients has taken a serious toll, along with a steep decline in emergency room visits as patients have grown fearful of contractin­g the virus. Though federal stimulus money has helped, it hasn’t been enough to cover the many gaps in revenue.

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to three dozen Democrats in the state Legislatur­e who toured 15 nursing homes in the state to offer support for employees. Many of these workers earn low incomes, but serve on the front lines at the most vulnerable sites for the spread of the pandemic. The coronaviru­s has reached 160 of the state’s 215 nursing homes. Not only are the workers working in a perilous situation, but they are dealing with the deaths of clients they work with every day. Thumbs up to them.

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to news that an inflammato­ry virus linked to the coronaviru­s has led to the deaths of three children in New York. In Connecticu­t, Gov. Lamont Lamont said three cases of child inflammato­ry syndrome have been linked to COVID-19. The convention­al wisdom had been that children were in little danger of serious illness from the coronaviru­s’ spread. Though much is not known about the illness, it adds yet another level of discomfort to an already disconcert­ing time.

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to a significan­t decline in calls to the Department of Children and Families to report potential abuse cases, which would normally be cause for celebratio­n but is likely a result of children being out of school due to stay-at-home orders. Ken Mysogland, DCF’s bureau chief of external affairs, told CT News Junkie that calls to the agency in April were down 47 percent from the same month last year, and overall new reports of child abuse and neglect were down 55 percent.

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