Maya McFadden Photo
In the wake of a pandemic Thanksgiving, the kids stayed home — and the staff joined others lined up to be tested for Covid-19.
That was the scene Monday at the Boys and Girls Club New Haven (BGC) learning hub on Columbus Avenue. It reflected official concerns about a spike in already rising coronavirus cases due to people traveling and attending family gatherings for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The club kept the kids home out of caution about the potential spread.
Meanwhile, Yale New Haven Health set up a pop-up Covid-19 testing site for Hill residents and beyond to get tested without needing to schedule an appointment or have symptoms. YNHH began staging weekly Monday pop-ups at the club at the start of November.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz stopped by the testing site Monday to encourage residents to get tested following the Thanksgiving holiday. BGC Interim Executive Director Barbara Chesler gave Bysiewicz a tour of the building and the four learning hub pods for students ages 6 – 14.
Bysiewicz (pictured) praised health care systems for bringing pop-up testing sites to urban areas for residents to have accessible and reliable testing options without having to make an appointment, at a time when long lines have required people to wait hours to get tested.
Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate was one of nearly 100 New Haveners to get tested Monday. In conversation with Wingate, Bysiewiczs learned that he recently lost a brother out-of-state due to Covid. Wingate himself survived Covid after testing positive in March.
Bysiewicz said her husband’s brother-in-law recently passed way from having Covid along with underlying respitory conditions.
The Hill testing site is open every Monday through December from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors should enter through the club’s gym at 144 Minor St. The remaining open testing days are Dec. 7, Dec. 14, Dec. 21 and Dec. 28.
YNHH reached out to the BGC to make testing more accessible as Covid cases increase statewide, said Vice President of Community and Government Relations Kyle Ballou.
The club’s 52 learning-hub students remain on break until all the staff are tested. The majority of the BGC staffers are in their 20s said Chesler.
Bysiewicz said she foresees college students being super-spreaders post-Thanksgiving after many traveled from campus to home for the semester break.
Out of safety concerns, the learning hub no longer operates through a volunteer basis. “We make sure it’s the same people in each pod every day,” Chesler said. Currently the club is looking to hire three more people so each pod will have at least two staffers.
Originally YNHH looked to host testing at least twice a week at the BGC site. For the first two weeks the site tested on Mondays and Fridays. Now testing is only on Monday, the only day the students don’t use the gym during remote learning breaks, Chesler said.
“Ms. Sampson” (pictured) got tested for her second time on Monday after deciding last minute it was the perfect day to beat any walk-up lines due to the rainy weather. Usually, Ms. Sampson (who declined to give her full name) visits family in Bridgeport for Thanksgiving. She didn’t this year. She wanted to keep herself and others safe, she said.
Ms. Sampson came from the Dixwell neighborhood to the BGC site Monday after learning that many other sites are overbooked. She was able to walk up to the BGC site Monday without waiting in line.
In her view, the city reopened non-essential businesses too early. “Everyone thinks it just is what it is,” she said. “We can’t just live with this. We have to get rid of it.”
Dwight resident Sheryl Rauenell tested on Monday to “play it safe” despite not having a Thanksgiving gathering. On Thanksgiving Rauenell picked up a pre-made to-go plate from her family without getting out of the car. She then worked for the rest of the day.
As of 2 p.m. Monday 97 residents were tested at the pop-up. Lillie Toni (pictured), YNHH’s Covid testing manager, said the site averages about 100 appointments each day and administers 200 test total per day.