Geraldo Reyes Jr

Due to an increase and uptick in COVID-19 positivity rates, Waterbury remains on the Red alert list.

For several additional charts and tables containing more data groups, including a town-by-town breakdown of positive cases in each municipality and a breakdown of cases and deaths among age groups, click here.

Positivity for the Future

“As as the numbers of COVID cases increase, the testing sites are seeing a huge demand and the need for more testing. I would like to compliment all the service providers that are being administered in the city of Waterbury on a daily basis, in particular CHC at 51 N. Elm St. The testing need is great as the percentage is climbing in the 4% range. Please take extra precaution and if you plan to vote in person please bring your mask, sanitizer, and your own pencil or pen to fill out the ballot. The extra precaution is to not touch anything that isn’t yours!” - State Rep. Geraldo Reyes

Weekly update of the Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Alert Map: Thirty municipalities in red

The Connecticut Department of Public Health yesterday released its weekly COVID-19 Alert Map, which indicates that 30 cities and towns in Connecticut are currently in the red zone alert level, the highest of the state’s four alert levels. They are:

• Ansonia*
• Bridgeport*
• Canterbury
• Cromwell*
• Danbury
• East Hartford
• Ellington*
• Franklin*
• Griswold
• Groton
• Hartford
• Killingly*
• Lisbon
• Middlebury*
• Middlefield*
• Montville
• New Britain*
• New London
• North Canaan*
• Norwalk
• Norwich
• Old Saybrook*
• Plainfield
• Stamford*
• Sprague
• Waterford
• Waterbury
• Watertown*
• Windham
• Wolcott*

*Newly added to the red-level alert list this week

The towns of Fairfield, Prospect, and Salem were in the red zone last week and have been downgraded to the orange zone this week.

The red zone indicates municipalities that have an average daily COVID-19 case rate over the last two weeks of greater than 15 per 100,000 population. The orange zone indicates those that have case rates between 10 to 14 cases per 100,000 population. The yellow zone indicates municipalities that have case rates between 5 and 9 per 100,000 population, and those indicated in gray have case rates lower than five per 100,000 population.

The weekly alert map is also accompanied by a chart that provides guidance on recommended actions based on the alert levels for individual residents; institutions such as schools, houses of worship, and community organizations; as well as municipal leaders and local health directors.

The Department of Public Health will be working with individual cities and towns in the higher-alert levels, including their local health departments, to provide community resources and help make community-level decisions.

The COVID-19 Alert Map is updated every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. and can be found in the Data Tracker page of the state’s coronavirus website.

Dashboard for public reporting of COVID-19 school cases launched on Connecticut Open Data Portal

The Connecticut Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Connecticut State Department of Education, yesterday launched a dashboard for the public reporting of confirmed COVID-19 cases among PK-12 students and staff in all public and private schools. The data tables are searchable by school and will be maintained on the Connecticut Open Data Portal. Reported data will be updated weekly every Thursday and will reflect total student and staff cases as well as new cases reported from the previous week.

All Connecticut public and private PK-12 schools are required to report any new student or staff person in a school who is identified as having a confirmed positive test result for COVID-19. This includes any staff or students who are working or attending in a fully remote learning model. Districts have been instructed to submit their reports on the same day that their schools are notified or as soon as possible (e.g. if notified on a weekend). In order to balance transparency and the utility of these data with the need to protect individual privacy, suppression rules have been applied to the reporting of school cases. For example, if a school reports 1-5 cases then <6 is displayed in order to de-identify the data. If 6 or more cases are reported then the exact number is displayed. If no cases are reported, 0 cases will be displayed.

It should be noted that the experience in Connecticut since reopening began for the 2020-21 academic year indicates that transmission has been a rare event inside of school buildings even in communities with elevated transmission rates. This is likely due to the high-level of planning and compliance with mitigation strategies designed to prevent transmission between individuals.

If you have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic and are struggling to pay your rent or mortgage, the Connecticut Department of Housing (DOH) and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) reopened applications for the Temporary Rental Housing Assistance program on Monday.

The TRHAP Program:

• Initial priority for TRHAP assistance will be targeted at individuals and families who have been denied unemployment assistance from the Department of Labor. 
• Individuals who are unemployed or under-employed and who have not yet filed for unemployment assistance should file for as soon as possible.
• Individuals who would like to speak to a Call Center Representative to determine their eligibility for TRHAP assistance can call (860) 785-3111, or they may click here.

After a Virtual Healthy Chat you will:

• Know what Access Health CT (AHCT) is and how they can help you
• Understand the types of financial help and coverage options available
• Be prepared for 2021 Open Enrollment and the application process
• Feel empowered to choose a plan and understand the benefits of coverage so you can stay well

Healthy Chats will be held via Zoom (and by phone) on select Wednesdays from 3 – 4 pm and select Thursdays from 6 – 7 pm. There's also a first-ever Spanish Healthy Chats.

• Click here to learn what is needed to enroll.
• Click here to learn more about available plans.

Open enrollment begins on November 1^st for those that need health insurance but do not have a QLE. Click here for more information.

Weekly update to the regional travel advisory: California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania added to list; Rhode Island and New Jersey meet metrics but will not be included

The regional travel advisory between Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York that directs incoming travelers from states with a significant community spread of COVID-19 to self-quarantine for a 14-day period was updated this week.

California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania have been added to the list of impacted locations that meet the metrics to qualify.

New Jersey and Rhode Island meet the criteria for the travel advisory, however given the interconnected nature of the region and mode of transport between the states, they are not being included on the list of states required for a mandatory quarantine. That said, Governor Lamont highly discourages, to the extent practical, all nonessential travel to limit the spread of COVID-19.

No other areas were removed from the list this week.

The requirement to quarantine applies to any person traveling into Connecticut from a state with a positive case rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10 percent test positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. It also applies to any person arriving into Connecticut from a country for which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice.

Anyone arriving to Connecticut from any of the impacted locations is required to fill out a travel health form upon their arrival. The form can be filled out online.

The list of impacted locations is updated once per week every Tuesday. The full list of impacted locations under the travel advisory includes:

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Delaware
8. Florida
9. Georgia
10. Guam
11. Idaho
12. Illinois
13. Indiana
14. Iowa
15. Kansas
16. Kentucky
17. Louisiana
18. Maryland
19. Massachusetts
20. Michigan
21. Minnesota
22. Mississippi
23. Missouri
24. Montana
25. Nebraska
26. Nevada
27. New Mexico
28. North Carolina
29. North Dakota
30. Ohio
31. Oklahoma
32. Pennsylvania
33. Puerto Rico
34. South Carolina
35. South Dakota
36. Tennessee
37. Texas
38. Utah
39. Virginia
40. West Virginia
41. Wisconsin
42. Wyoming