Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to the staff at Danbury Hospital, who risk their lives every day caring for COVID-19 patients yet recently collected enough food to fill four vans for local pantries. Jericho Partnership picked up the food and helped other Danbury area agencies with the distribution. The effort was in recognition of National Hospital Week earlier this month, but the hospital staff plans to continue giving grocery store gift cards as long as needed.
Thumbs up to New Milford proactively helping downtown restaurants by closing Bank Street to traffic after 5 p.m. to open more room for outdoor dining, which became allowed in the pandemic after May 20. The town is also relaxing some restrictions to enable restaurants to use parking spaces for tables. The street closing is not only practical for this time, but also lends a festive atmosphere to downtown.
Thumbs down to a rise in hospitalizations, albeit small, near the end of the first week of the first phase of Connecticut’s reopening. Hospitalizations have been a key metric as the state looks to get back to business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the numbers had been favorable leading into the reopening of restaurants for outdoor dining, along with other changes. But weekend numbers saw a slight increase, indicating the state is not out of the woods yet. Officials will be watching the numbers closely as Phase 2 of the reopening approaches next month.
Thumbs up to an extra 13 weeks of jobless benefits, which more than 75,000 Connecticut residents can apply for beginning this week under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Under typical regulations, unemployment benefits are capped at 26 weeks; the new law pushes that window to 39 weeks. But given the grim unemployment numbers and the reaction to Phase 1 of the state’s coronavirus reopening, more is likely to be necessary. Even with more businesses now open, customers have been understandably slow to arrive, with fears of the virus still high. That will push a full economic recovery further into the future, meaning more help for the jobless will be needed.
Thumbs down to nursing homes cited for poor infection-control practices during the pandemic. While there are a lot of factors contributing to the high rate of deaths related to coronavirus at nursing homes, it is unsettling that some of them declined to separate COVID-19-positive residents from others, improperly or failed to use protective equipment and failed fundamentals such as proper hygiene. We admire the work of staffs at nursing homes, but such watchdogs must remain vigilant to reinforce best practices.
Thumbs up to high usage rates at Connecticut’s parks and trails, with the caveat that people must continue to practice social distancing and be practical around others. The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Hamden saw nearly three times as many visitors this March compared to 2019, according to the UConn Connecticut Trail Census, and many other trails have reported similar numbers. Usage rates are so high that some parks have been closed when they reach capacity. But it’s understandable why so many people are out at a time when they are being told to stay in whenever possible. A little fresh air goes a long way. Still, everyone needs to be considerate and do their best to keep their distance.