Paul Bass Photo
Postal carrier Marisol Lopez, who began her job two months ago just as the pandemic was beginning, had her gloves and mask on as she delivered packages Wednesday in the Edgewood neighborhood.
Thanks to New Haven’s social-distancing efforts, Covid-19 has spread less quickly than anticipated in the city and appears to be leveling off, at least for now.
Mayor Justin Elicker offered that assessment Wednesday afternoon at his administration’s daily Zoom pandemic press briefing.
He released the above chart of the latest confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths among city residents as measured day by day.
It shows that “the spread of virus seems to be slowing at a faster pace than we originally anticipated,” Elicker said. “We’re significantly slowing our daily increase in cases.”
The daily rise ended up not being as steep as predicted, as New Haveners took calls to heart to socially distance.
That’s “the reason,” Elicker said, “we have not become Italy” with overwhelmed hospitals and piled-up corpses. (Click here for today’s update from Yale New Haven officials, who sounded a similar theme.)
Elicker added that he and other Connecticut mayors agree that reopening their communities too quickly risks undoing that progress and ushering in a second wave of infections. That would endanger public health as well as the long-term economy.
“Every wise person and educated person that is an epidemiologist or has a medical background is still advising that we need to be very cautious about opening up,” Elicker said.
Other briefing updates:
• A 108-year-old woman died from Covid-19. To date the city has 1,530 confirmed cases and 57 fatalities.
Health Director Maritza Bond at Wednesday’s presser.
• Mary Wade Home has recorded five Covid 19-related deaths, according to city Health Director Maritza Bond (pictured).
• The new site on a basketball court on Day Street conducted 20 Covid-19 tests on its first day. It will be closed Thursday because of expected inclement weather and reopen Friday, Bond said. (Reservations are required; click here.)
• Responding to a comment from an Independent reader, Elicker said there are no plans at the moment to add a sixth testing site in West Rock or West Hills. The mayor noted that people without cars with appointments at CVS’s testing site on Long Wharf can obtain free rides by calling 211.
• Schools Superintendent Iline Tracy said 2,000 people have already responded to a survey about grading policy for the remainder of the academic year. Most people lean toward a pass-fail system; she reported she plans to submit a proposal to the Board of Education’s Governance Committee Monday night. She has also convened a working group of parents, teachers, and administrators to craft a “road map” for how to reopen schools when the time comes. Topics to be considered: facilities and cleaning; social distancing; “what instruction will look like”; social/emotional learning; and “what technology will look like.”