The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
COVID infection rate, cases down in East Hampton
EAST HAMPTON — As the coronavirus pandemic nears a year, Town Manager David E. Cox had some good news for residents.
The town’s positivity rate for COVID-19 infections has been reduced, and the number of cases has declined, according to Cox.
“We’re doing much better in terms of COVID rates,” Cox said as he delivered a comprehensive report on the status of the virus in town during a Town Council meeting Tuesday.
At one point, the rate of infection was seven cases per day, Cox said. Now, that number has been halved, he told the council.
What’s more, roughly 11 percent of residents in town have received at least their first shot of the COVID vaccine, he said, and 80 percent of residents 75 or older have been vaccinated.
However, the state Department of Public Health reported that another East Hampton resident had died as a result of the virus, Cox said, bringing the town’s toll to 18 since the pandemic began
last March.
For its part, the council, meeting virtually via Zoom, gave tentative approval to paying the Chatham Health District an additional $19,368.20 to offset increased costs associated with the health district’s work amid the pandemic.
CHD Director Russell S. Melmed previously had asked each of the six towns that make up the health district to pay a portion of their Municipal Coronavirus Relief Fund money to the district, citing those increased expenses.
Hebron, Marlborough and Portland have approved that request.
Director of Finance Jeffrey M. Jylkka will present the one-time appropriation request to the Board of Finance next week, Cox said.
The board will make the decision on how to pay the money, either by taking it from the relief funding or from the contingency line in the 2020-21 budget, he said. Once the board decides which option to use, the request will come back to the council for final approval.
Cox addressed concerns from some residents about allocating the funds to the health district as the town itself has seen some expenses related to the pandemic, such as leave time for some employees and personal protective equipment.
Those costs “are very tightly controlled,” Cox explained.