Several CT towns move out of COVID ‘red’ zone

For the first time in several months, many towns in the Danbury area are no longer seeing “red.”

As COVID-19 cases fall, many communities have dropped from the state’s “red zone” and moved to the “orange” or “yellow” warning levels.

Towns and cities are in the “red zone” if they hit 15 or more cases per 100,000 residents per day over a two-week period— the worst and highest ranking.

“We’ve had ups and downs, but the last four weeks we’ve been doing well,” said Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn, whose town has finally downgraded to the orange zone, which means the town has had 10 to 14 daily cases per 100,000 people. “This is very very gratifying to see how much it had dropped.”

Danbury’s mayor, Joe Cavo, said he felt encouraged by the new data.

Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, New Milford and Redding are in the orange zone, with New Fairfield and Southbury in the yellow zone.

In the rankings, “yellow zone” means a rate between five to nine cases. Gray zones suggest rates lower than five. The colors were originally created to categorize and curate a framework for responses to outbreaks in different areas.

Newtown and Sherman are among 55 towns still in the red zone, with Sherman at a rate of 23.7 per 100,000 residents and Newtown at 16.5.

Eastford had the highest rate of 35.9 per 100,000 residents, closely followed by Waterbury with 34.4 and Bridgeport with 29.8, according to the most recent state report from last Thursday.

Twenty-nine communities were in the gray zone, including Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington and Kent. Roxbury reported zero cases for the week starting April 18 and two cases for the week starting April 25. Bridgewater reported one case each of those weeks. Washington and Kent had zero cases in the most recent week.

Several town leaders have been vigilantly watching their viral rates as they’ve remained solidly in the “red zone” for months.

“As a town leader— and I think this is true of all town leaders— you feel some responsibility for making sure your town is safe,” said Dunn. “We’ve worked very hard as a town to make sure Brookfield is safe.”

Dunn applauded the efforts of local volunteers who stepped up to man food banks, vaccination sites, contact tracing and more during the pandemic. He even said their recent ability to contain an outbreak from a sports event that infected dozens was due to contact tracing volunteers, whom he said worked quickly to contact and isolate those affected.

“That could have just blown up on us but it didn’t,” Dunn said.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said his town’s graduation to the “orange zone” showed yet another move toward “normalcy.”

Brookfield and New Milford have planned Memorial Day parades and are moving forward with other outdoor celebrations and summertime traditions. Brookfield is continuing its summer concert series on Friday nights.

“I’m hoping that it’ll continue to drop,” Dunn said of their COVID-19 numbers.

Bass pointed to the combination of increased vaccination efforts, nicer weather and social distancing practices have helped the town get to where it is. He’s happy to be “able to open up a little more, which I know everyone is thankful for.”

The counties with the highest numbers of COVID-19 accumulated since the outbreak began — Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven — are finally starting to see an abatement.

“We can probably look forward to having a normal school year and a normal holiday season,” Dunn said.

But amid the relieving news, Cavo also urged caution. Danbury’s leading official said the unpredictability of the virus often makes him “feel like a weatherman.” And while he’s encouraged by the move to “orange,” he doesn’t want people to drop their guard too soon and is moving forward slowly.

“Stepping back a notch, if you have to, is easier than stepping back five notches,” he said. “The fact that we’ve now come this low is encouraging to me that we’re moving properly and with caution.”