COVID Update 5.6

May 6, 2020

Today, May 6, was the last day of the 2020 regular session for the CT General Assembly. I put that date in my calendar sometime in February, when session opened, as the final in a series of markers in the process of moving bills through the system of becoming law.

A few minutes ago, I watched the closing ceremony from my desk at home, accompanied by my colleagues only in the form of a text chain in which we shared our sadness and a much-needed sense of humor. This year several members of leadership on both sides of the aisle, including both the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader, are retiring, and listening to our leadership express deep respect for one another in a largely empty chamber, wearing masks, felt momentous.

Our jobs as legislators have changed dramatically this year: we are not legislating in any traditional sense. But the issues actually remain the same ones that underpin our legislative work. Ensuring access to quality affordable healthcare now is less about regulating the insurance industry, and more about making sure that essential workers and vulnerable populations are protected with adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (or PPE, as we all now know). Instead of drafting legislation re “municipal gain” and other technical issues related to internet connectivity, I’m outside measuring broadband signals and making sure that students can use the internet to get their homework done while their parents work from home. Instead of making sure that Community Investment Act funds designated for the protection of dairy farms aren’t swept for other purposes, I’m trying to make sure that farmers don’t have to throw away milk, and will continue to be around to feed us into the future.

At this time of year, I expected to be surrounded by my colleagues in the legislature, fighting to make sure our bills made it across the finish line. Instead I’m surrounded by all of you: neighbors, friends, and allies all working to make sure we make it through this crisis. Together.

And, another pitch for the 2020 CENSUS!  Our regional census coordinator just alerted me to the fact that the completion rates in our area are low. The statewide average is around 60%, while some towns in our region are as low as 33%. Each person counted in the census is worth about $2,900 in resources for our state and communities, so it is critical that we STAND UP AND BE COUNTED Click here for more information.

Here’s a list of today’s topics:

  • Executive Order 7II, including school cancellations for remainder of school year
  • In-person classes at K-12 schools canceled for remainder of academic year
  • Governor Lamont receives recommendations for a phased reopening of colleges and universities in Connecticut
  • Free advisory support for student loan borrowers
  • Department of Revenue Services extends application deadline for municipalities to submit locally approved Neighborhood Assistance Act proposals
  • Two business-related surveys
  • Parenting for Prevention series kicked off by the Governor’s prevention project
  • Connectivity in the Northwest Corner
  • Fighting invasives one seed at a time

For several additional graphs and tables containing more data, including a list of cases in every municipality, visit ct.gov/coronavirus.

Governor Lamont Executive Order No. 7II enacting the following provisions:

  1. Extension of school class cancellations for remainder of school year: Extends the cancellation of in-person classes at public schools statewide for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. Schools will be required to continue providing distance learning during this period.
  2. Authorization for the Department of Social Services commissioner to temporarily waive, modify, or suspend home health regulatory requirements: Makes it easier for Medicaid members to access home health services by allowing payment for these services to be ordered by advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants, in addition to physicians.
  3. Extension of the start date for imposition of a late fee for obtaining dog licenses from July 1, 2020 to August 1, 2020: Provides dog owners with a grace period through July 31, 2020 before a late fee is imposed for dog licenses, which are normally issued in June of each year.
  4. Authority to waive certain requirements for the issuance of vouchers under the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: To limit the need for in-person transactions, this order waives the signature requirement on the voucher registry for the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, and permits any adult to act as a designated proxy to pick up and redeem the vouchers on behalf of an eligible participant.

In-person classes at K-12 schools canceled for remainder of academic year

Governor Lamont announced yesterday that he is ordering in-person classes at all K-12 public school facilities in Connecticut to remain canceled for the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year and continue providing distance learning during this period. Schools will also be required to continue providing meals to children under the school lunch and breakfast programs for consumption at home, as they have been throughout this emergency.

The governor is consulting with state and local education officials regarding whether summer school programming should commence as scheduled. He anticipates having guidance on that matter toward the end of this month.

For more information, read the press release issued by Governor Lamont.

Governor Lamont receives recommendations for a phased reopening of colleges and universities in Connecticut

Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he has received a detailed report containing recommendations for a phased reopening of colleges and universities in Connecticut in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report was prepared by Rick Levin, former president of Yale University, and Linda Lorimer, former vice president of global and strategic initiatives at Yale University, both of whom are the co-chairs of the education committee of the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group. Representatives from the committee who consulted on the report include:

  • Alice Pritchard: Chief of staff to the president of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities
  • Rachel Rubin: Chief of staff to the president of the University of Connecticut
  • Steve Kaplan: President of the University of New Haven
  • Jen Widness: President of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges

The recommendations include the gradual reopening of higher education campuses over the course of the summer – at the discretion of each institution – based on the type of educational programs offered and whether they provide residential services. By the fall semester, if prevailing health conditions permit, all of the sector may reopen, although institutions will be free to decide whether they need more time for certain programs to restart.

The reopening of any higher education institution will need to be phased based on the varied nature of the activities on its campus. For example, research operations function similarly to the operations of a place of business and can be restarted relatively quickly. Likewise, community colleges are easier to open than fully residential colleges, where the challenges are much greater given that students live together in close quarters.

The recommended sequencing of the reopening of colleges and universities would be as follows:

  • Research programs and administrative functions will be able to open on the same timetable as the first wave of general business operations in the state, which is currently set for May 20.
  • Next, early in the summer, workforce development programs in institutions such as community colleges may reopen. As part of their reactivation, they will welcome back those students who were unable to complete courses with lab, studio, clinical, or shop requirements for their degrees this spring.
  • By mid-July, other nonresidential educational programs might be reopened if public health conditions continue to improve, and some institutions may want to resume graduate programs. A few summer programs involving undergraduate student in residential settings might be piloted.
  • By the end of the summer in preparation for the fall semester, if prevailing health conditions make it possible, undergraduate residential institutions may reopen if they choose.

This sequencing is dependent upon several public health conditions that must be met. Some of these prerequisites include:

  • The prevalence of the disease must be low enough to allow the safe resumption of campus operations;
  • Institutions that will be housing students 24/7 must have access to enough COVID-19 tests so that entering students can be tested upon arrival, and those students testing positive must be immediately isolated; and
  • An adequate capacity for contact tracing must be provided to the higher education institutions.

In order to reopen, each higher education institution would be required to file reopening plans with the Connecticut Department of Public health, detailing how they propose to:

  • Repopulate the campus, likely in a phased way;
  • Monitor health conditions to detect infection;
  • Contain the spread of disease when detected; and
  • Shut down the campus in the event it becomes necessary.

Approximately 190,000 students are enrolled in higher education institutions in the state, and they employ about 45,000 of residents. Most colleges and universities in Connecticut have not shut down their teaching during the spring semester, but rather have employed online methods to continue educating students.

Free advisory support for student loan borrowers

On April 21, Governor Lamont extended relief options to many Connecticut student loan borrowers with loans excluded by the CARES Act, halting late fees and offering a three-month, opt-in pause on payments, among other benefits. Today the Governor supplemented that with the announcement that Summer, a social enterprise that assists student loan borrowers, is providing Connecticut residents financially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis with free assistance managing their student loans.

As a certified B Corp, Summer is the leading resource for borrowers to simplify and save on their student debt – offering cutting-edge tools and a dedicated team of student loan experts to find, compare and enroll in dozens of loan assistance and forgiveness programs. Connecticut residents can now access Summer’s digital platform free of charge and receive customized loan savings recommendations by visiting www.meetsummer.org/covidrelief.

While the U.S. federal government has taken the important step of pausing payments on all Federal Direct loans, millions of borrowers have continued to make payments on private student loans and commercially-held FFEL and Perkins loans that were excluded from the CARES Act.

Borrowers who are either unemployed or have experienced a significant salary reduction could be eligible for a $0 or very low monthly payment in a federal Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan. With the average borrower paying approximately $300 per month on student loans, an IDR plan can result in an annual savings amount of $3,600 – three times the amount of the $1,200 stimulus checks. Similar to tax software, Summer’s digital platform can help Connecticut residents check their eligibility across IDR plans and automatically complete the application if they qualify.

Department of Revenue Services extends application deadline for municipalities to submit locally approved Neighborhood Assistance Act proposals

In recognition of the impact of COVID-19, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS) has extended the application deadline for municipalities to submit their locally approved Neighborhood Assistance Act project proposals until July 31, 2020. The State of Connecticut awards up to five million dollars in tax credits to businesses that sponsor approved projects on behalf of a tax-exempt organization or municipal agency through the Neighborhood Assistance Act, which is administered annually by DRS.

For more information, read the press release issued by the Department of Revenue Services.

Two business-related surveys

As part of the research contributing to the reopening process, AdvanceCT is conducting two surveys, one for business owners and one for employees.
They are looking to gather more insights and input from these surveys to guide the work being done by the Reopening Committee.
The first survey is a Small Business Reopening Survey, for business owners. The second is a Worker Sentiment Survey, for employees that will be heading back to work during the various phases of reopening.
For business owners, they would like to identify the pain points they anticipate during the reopening process and for employees, they would like to know more about their concerns about going back to work.

Parenting for Prevention series kicked off by the Governor’s prevention project

For the past 31 years, The Governor’s Prevention Partnership (GPP) has worked to keep Connecticut’s young people safe and drug-free. This week our young people have been told that they won’t return to school for the rest of the year. How does this make them feel? They are isolated; social structures that were in place are gone; parents are balancing the difficult task of working from home and schooling their children. In response, GPP is kicking off a month-long “Parenting for Prevention” series for Mental Health Awareness Month. Registration is free.

In the coming weeks, they will be hosting discussions on the Mobile Crisis Unit, Suicide Prevention, and Substance Misuse. If you’d like to participate, registration links will be posted to the trainings section of their website.

Connectivity in the Northwest Corner

I wanted to remind everyone about a survey being conducted by the Region One School District concerning internet access, which, if you haven’t already completed it, you can find here:

I know many of us are having challenges with connectivity, in terms of access, bandwidth, and cost. Many of our challenges relate to infrastructure, which is a longer term issue I’m focused on, but I thought I’d also pass along some tips on how to make sure you are maximizing what you have. Here’s a helpful article from the Washington Post on “Bad Wifi is slowing you down. Fix yours without spending a dime.”

Fighting invasives one seed at a time

I wanted to give a shout out to the Knotweed Network, working on getting rid of noxious invasives in our region. Earlier this week, 25 pounds of Conservation Seed Mix and 10 pounds of Wild Virginia Rye were sown across the steep slope of what was the largest knotweed patch in the Wild and Scenic Housatonic landscape, just north of the Cornwall Covered Bridge. Thank you Sharon Tingley of Sharon Inland Wetlands Commission, Jim Saunders, a Housatonic River Commissioner from Sharon, and Christian Allyn, a Housatonic River Commissioner representing North Canaan.

Governor Lamont encourages residents to sign up for the state’s CTAlert notification system

Governor Lamont is encouraging Connecticut residents to sign up for CTAlert, the state’s emergency alert system, which provides text message notifications to users. To subscribe, text the keyword COVIDCT to 888-777.

Providing information to Connecticut residents

For the most up-to-date information from the State of Connecticut on COVID-19, including an FAQ and other guidance and resources, residents are encouraged to visit ct.gov/coronavirus.

Individuals who have general questions that are not answered on the website can also call 2-1-1 for assistance. The hotline is available 24 hours a day and has multilingual assistance and TDD/TTY access. It intended to be used by individuals who are not experiencing symptoms but may have general questions related to COVID-19. Anyone experiencing symptoms is strongly urged to contact their medical provider.