Sen. Hwang Covid-19 Update for the week of August 24, 2020

August 31, 2020

The Office of the Governor provided the following updates as of 8:30 p.m. on Friday, August 27, 2020:

Data updates on testing in Connecticut

The following is a summary of the day-to-day newly reported data on cases, deaths, and tests in Connecticut.

Overall Summary Statewide Total

(includes confirmed and probable cases)

Change Since Thu, August 27
COVID-19 Cases 52,495 +145
COVID-19-Associated Deaths 4,465 +0
Patients Currently Hospitalized with COVID-19 60 +4
COVID-19 PCR Tests Reported 1,125,398 +13,997

 

County-by-county breakdown:

County COVID-19 Cases COVID-19 Deaths COVID-19 Hospitalizations
Confirmed Probable Confirmed Probable
Fairfield County 18,049 725 1,099 314 14
Hartford County 12,739 653 1,105 321 17
Litchfield County 1,614 74 118 21 1
Middlesex County 1,382 64 154 38 2
New Haven County 13,177 445 959 150 22
New London County 1,486  68 79 27 3
Tolland County 1,059 67 51 14 0
Windham County 779 10 14 1 1
Pending address validation 102 2 0 0 0
Total 50,387 2,108 3,579 886 60

For several additional graphs and tables containing more data, including a list of cases in every municipality, visit ct.gov/coronavirus and click the link that is labeled, “COVID-19 Data Tracker.”

For more information visit ct.gov/coronavirus and click the link that is labeled, “COVID-19 Data Tracker.”

 

Weekly update to the regional travel advisory: Guam added, five states removed

 

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 today and now includes Guam on the list of impacted locations. In addition, five states have been removed from the list, including Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, and Montana.

The quarantine applies to any person traveling into Connecticut from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10 percent test positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.

The list of impacted locations is updated once per week on Tuesdays. As of today, the full list of impacted locations falling under the travel advisory includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Guam
  • Hawaii
  • Iowa
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • Mississippi
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • Oklahoma
  • Puerto Rico
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Virgin Islands
  • Virginia
  • Wisconsin

Anyone seeking the most up-to-date information on the regional travel advisory, including an extensive list of frequently asked questions, is encouraged to visit the state’s coronavirus website at ct.gov/Coronavirus/travel.

 

FEMA approves additional $300 per week for unemployed in CT

FEMA announced federal officials approved Connecticut for a grant under the FEMA Lost Wages Assistance program.

The grant funding will allow Connecticut to provide an additional $300 per week to those who became unemployed due to COVID-19, on top of their regular unemployment benefit.

The $300 additional benefit will be retroactive to the claim week beginning July 26, according to Gov. Lamont.

 

FEMA said that the state has agreed to administer the federal assistance. Officials with FEMA said they will work with Gov. Ned Lamont’s office to implement the additional funding. It was not immediately clear when unemployed workers will start receiving the benefits.

 

 

Weekly update on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes and assisted living facilities

The following documents contain the weekly data regarding each of the nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Connecticut that have reported positive cases of COVID-19 among their residents. 

**Download: Report from August 27, 2020 on COVID-19 in Connecticut nursing homes

**Download: Report from August 27, 2020 on COVID-19 in Connecticut assisted living facilities

 

Connecticut Department of Public Health acting commissioner issues order expanding nursing home visitations

Connecticut Department of Public Health Acting Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford today issued an order expanding visitation in Connecticut nursing homes and clarifying for all long-term care facilities their obligations to facilitate visitations however possible to keep residents connected to loved ones on the outside on a regular basis. Since March 9, 2020, in-person visitation has been prohibited in Connecticut nursing homes, except for compassionate care visits only in the case where the resident is in the end stages of life when death is imminent.

Commissioner Gifford’s new order on visitation takes the following actions:

General Visitation

  • Clarifies that visits may occur more than once per week;
  • Requires nursing homes to develop a facility-wide visitation policy;
  • Requires facilities to assess the psychosocial needs of each resident and develop individualized visitation plans to meet those needs;
  • Extends the minimum time for perimeter visits (e.g. window visits, socially distanced outdoor visits) from 20 minutes to 30 minutes; and
  • Requires facilities to designate no less than five days per week as visitation days, one of which shall be a Saturday or Sunday, from which a resident’s visitation schedule can be devised.

Compassionate Care Visits

  • Confirms that compassionate care visits may take place indoors and do not require social distancing (touching allowed), as long as visitors and residents wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) as determined and supplied by the nursing home;
  • Expands compassionate care visits beyond end-of-life visits to include visits for residents who undergo significant change in physical, mental, or psychosocial condition including:
    • Weight loss;
    • Increased sleeping, confusion or agitation;
    • Delirium or other decline in cognition; and
    • New onset or increase of symptoms of mental illness;
  • Requires change of condition to be determined in consultation with resident’s physician, physician assistant, or advance practice registered nurse;
  • Requires Facilities to suspend expanded Compassionate Care visits for significant changes in physical, mental, or psychosocial conditions whenever the Facility experiences an outbreak of COVID-19.This suspension must be maintained until the Facility has complied with Executive Order No. 7AAA to test nursing home staff and residents weekly, and has had no positive COVID-19 cases among staff or residents for 14 days. A facility is deemed to have a COVID-19 outbreak when the facility has at least one COVID-19 positive case among staff or residents.
**Download: Commissioner Gifford’s order expanding nursing home visitations

 

Connecticut Department of Public Health issues citations against two nursing homes for violating governor’s COVID-19 testing order

The Connecticut Department of Public Health today announced that it has issued citations against two nursing homes – one in Hartford and one in Hamden – for violating Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 7AAA, which requires nursing homes to test staff and residents weekly for COVID-19. In each case, the nursing homes failed to properly implement the testing policy, under which all staff and residents are required to be tested for COVID-19 weekly until the facility records 14 days of testing with no new positive cases. Testing is being 100 percent funded by state and federal dollars through October 31, 2020.

Fines were issued against the following facilities:

  • Avery Nursing Home/Noble Building in Hartford: $1,140
  • Hamden Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Hamden: $1,140

The citations can be found online on the Department of Public Health’s Nursing Homes Inspection Documents reporting system. To find a specific violation, enter a date range for documents from between August 1, 2020 and today.

 

Judicial branch to resume court operations at four more locations on September 8

The Connecticut Judicial Branch announced today that some court operations will resume at the following locations on Tuesday, September 8:

  • Geographical Area No. 23 Courthouse at New Haven, 121 Elm Street
  • Juvenile Matters at New Haven, 239 Whalley Avenue
  • Juvenile Matters at Waterford, 978 Hartford Turnpike
  • Juvenile Matters at Willimantic, 81 Columbia Avenue

A range of civil, criminal, family, and juvenile proceedings are being processed both by remote technology and within courthouses. Individuals entering a court facility must wear a face mask covering their mouth and nose. In addition, to allow for social distancing, the number of people allowed into a courthouse, courtroom, office, lobby, or corridor may be limited.