State and local officials on Tuesday urged residents of Danbury to get tested for COVID-19 and pick up the phone when a contact tracer calls, saying it’s crucial to stopping the current “uptick” of cases.
Mayor Mark Boughton said the city has also taken other steps, such as asking churches to hold virtual rather than in-person religious services and delaying plans for in-person learning at the public schools until at least Oct. 1.
Danbury has been seeing a rolling average of 22 new daily cases per 100,000 people. That represents a roughly 6-7% infection rate, officials said. Statewide, the infection rate is about 1%.
“We want to make sure that we can slow the spread, and we really only have about a week-and-a-half to do that,” Boughton said. “Once a week-and-a-half goes by, if you haven’t taken the right steps, if you haven’t done the right things, it can be a runaway freight train.”
Boughton said about 1,000 people were tested over the last two days and he urged all residents to get tested, whether they have symptoms or not. The increase has been partly linked to people who’ve traveled both nationally and internationally, and people gathering at places of worship, athletic fields and parties.
Boughton appeared at a news conference outside city hall with Gov. Ned Lamont and a group of local lawmakers, public health and hospital officials to highlight the urgency of tamping down the spread.
“This is not a time to panic, but it is a time to be cautious,” Lamont said. He also harkened back to the announcement of the first confirmed Connecticut case during a March 8 news conference in Danbury.
“It is a little ironic here we are back in Danbury because we have had, it is not a surge, but it is an uptick, and we’re going to come down down hard on upticks like this,” he said.
State officials have ordered accelerated testing in Danbury’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities, suspending a policy allowing nursing homes to stop the weekly testing of residents and staff if a building is coronavirus free for 14 days. Facilities in Danbury will have to test everyone on a weekly basis for the foreseeable future.
Danbury Acting Health Director Kara Prunty says one rehab facility reported four new COVID-19 cases among staff and one case among its residents this week, though she deferred to the state Department of Public Health to identify the facility.
Sharon Adams, the President of Danbury and New Milford Hospital provided an update on hospital COVID-19 cases. There has been a slight uptick in cases in the past week, but the numbers are relatively low.
