Covid Updates: Black And Brown New Haveners Hit Hardest; Hotel Deal Struck

The Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the city’s African American and Hispanic populations, putting New Haven squarely alongside a host of larger cities across the country that have seen communities of color hardest hit by the novel coronavirus public health crisis.

Mayor Justin Elicker and top city officials gave that update Wednesday afternoon during their daily coronavirus-related press briefing held online via the Zoom teleconferencing app.

Cautioning that the data collected by the city so far is still preliminary and somewhat incomplete, Elicker talked through a series of charts and heat maps that clearly indicate that black and brown New Haveners have tested positive, been hospitalized, and died from the coronavirus at higher rates than their white counterparts.

The graphics also showed that neighborhoods that are occupied predominantly by lower-income New Haveners of color, including West River, Edgewood, the Hill, Newhallville, Dixwell, and Cedar Hill, have also borne the brunt of the public health hurt so far.

Of the city’s 114 Covid-related hospitalizations to date, 43 percent have been African American, 28 percent Hispanic, 18 percent white, and the remainder unknown.

“The fact that, of the people hospitalized, 43 percent are black, is an indication that there’s a disproportionate number of people who are impacted severely from a health perspective” in this city who are African American.

Of the city’s 363 positive infections, 27 percent have been African American, 18 percent Hispanic, 15 percent white, and 39 percent unknown.

(After the meeting, Elicker said that the city got information from the state health department late Wednesday afternoon showing that the city now has 409 confirmed positive Covid cases.)

And of the city’s 13 Covid-related deaths so far, 5 have been African American, 4 white, 3 Hispanic, and 1 uknown.

Larger cities like Chicago and Milwaukee as well as the state of Louisiana have reported recently that African American residents have made up as much as 70 percent of those who have died from Covid-19, while making up less than a third of those locations’ respective populations.

New Haven’s population is roughly a third African American, a third Hispanic, and a third white.

“You can see both by the heat maps and the graphs that the communities in New Haven that are significantly impacted by Covid-19 and the communities that have more concentrated areas of positive test results are primarily communities of color,” Elicker said.

“I think it’s important to share this information because there’s been some concern about misinformation about who the virus is impacting,” Elicker said. ​“About how this is spread. Also, it helps advise the community about how we might react more aggressively to address the areas and populations that are most heavily impacted.”

Elicker said he thinks that the crisis has disproportionately affected communities of color and historically working class and low-income communities for a variety of reasons: Income inequality and its correlation with underlying health conditions; higher public transportation usage; and higher percentages of people working in ​“frontline” jobs such as custodians, grocery store clerks, construction workers, and people in the health care field who cannot telecommute.

Now that the city is actively collecting and making public this data, Elicker said, he and his staff are exploring standing up more coronavirus testing sites in hard-hit neighborhoods ​“to provide a quick turnaround for individuals that may not have been tested, so we can promote self-isolating more.”

He said he also hopes to continue conversations with leaders in communities of color about how best to get the word out that their communities are being hard hit by this virus right now.

City Health Director Maritza Bond (pictured) pointed to a new bilingual educational campaign that the city has embarked on to increase awareness in both English and Spanish about the social distancing and handwashing recommendations more effective at mitigating the spread of the infectious respiratory disease.

In other updates:

• Elicker confirmed that the state and the Best Western of West Haven struck a deal Tuesday afternoon to lease 100 rooms to house homeless individuals displaced from the closure of the Grand Avenue shelter and a warming center on Winthrop Avenue. Elicker said that 99 homeless individuals have moved into the Best Western so far. In addition to homeless individuals previously relocated by the city and state to two other New Haven hotels, Elicker said that there are now a total of 194 homeless individuals from New Haven shelters currently in hotel rooms. See more below for the deal struck between the state and the West Haven hotel.

• The New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) system will be reducing its free meal distribution schedule from five days a week to three days a week, but it will be maintaining the same amount of food distributed, designed to cover seven days’ worth of meals.

Elicker, NHPS Superintendent Iline Tracey (pictured), and schools Chief Operating Officer Michael Pinto said that schools will distribute meals on Thursday, they will not distribute meals on Friday, and, starting next Monday and proceeding for the foreseeable future, they will only distribute meals on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. All at the same locations and during the same pick-up times from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The schools will distribute two days’ worth of meals on Mondays, two day’s worth of meals on Wednesdays, and three days’ worth of meals on Fridays.

“Since we’re encouraging people to stay home as much as possible,” Elicker said, ​“we’re trying to facilitate that as well.” The goal of the schedule change is to reduce the number of trips that families have to make out of their homes in order to get meals, to reduce the exposure for school food service workers, and to reduce the amount of personal protective equipment those workers have to burn through on a daily basis.

• Elicker joined six other Connecticut city mayors in signing a letter sent to the state legislature Wednesday, urging legislators to adopt a bill that would prohibit evictions from taking place until after 30 days following the end of a declared state of emergency. ​“I think it’s very important to allow for people to stay in their homes,” Elicker said. ​“If people all of a sudden don’t have a place to live, it causes all kinds of different and more complex issues” during a pandemic where the homeless are some of the most vulnerable to contracting and spreading the diseases.

• As he approaches his 100th day in office, Elicker said that his first term has not gone as expected when his transition team first published in January dozens of short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals for his nascent administration. 

“The 100 days plan is going to take more than 100 days to accomplish,” he said, ​“but those things will be accomplished.”

He said what he is most proud of during his first 100 days as mayor is the team he’s put together in City Hall and the way that city staff and residents have worked together during this crisis to put ​“so much time and effort and energy in trying to do the right thing, trying to be flexible, supportive of their neighbors and colleagues.”

He pointed to business owners giving free food to health care workers and first responders even as their own businesses struggled financially. And to soup kitchen volunteers who continue to help feed the hungry. To people making masks and wearing masks out in public, knowing that it’s the right and safe thing to do. Others putting teddy bears in their windows and having virtual happy hour cocktails with friends to maintain a sense of fun and community amidst such difficult times. And, most importantly, people staying physically apart even as they move socially and emotionally and civically together.

An earlier version of this story is below.

Homeless Hotel Deal Revived, Signed

The state has signed an agreement to rent 100 rooms at a West Haven hotel for $60 night to house homeless individuals displaced from New Haven shelters during the Covid-19 crisis.

State Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Deputy Commissioner Noel Petra confirmed the signing of that new accord Wednesday afternoon.

He said that representatives from DAS, the state Office of Policy and Management (OPM), and the state Department of Housing (DOH) struck the housing deal with the Best Western of West Haven via a conference call.

The rooms will house homeless individuals displaced from the Grand Avenue shelter and a Winthrop Avenue warming center, as well as other people looking for safe lodging now that the state and the city have shuttered local homeless shelters in an effort to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Petra said that the deal is for 30 days with an option to renew for another 30 days.

City and state officials have worked for weeks to relocate homeless people from shelters to two New Haven-based hotels as a ​“decompression” strategy: that is, to reduce density of gathering places where people might have trouble keeping six feet apart from one another.

Petra said that the new deal signed with Best Western does not include any extra security provided by West Haven police officers. A letter from the West Haven police chief asking the state to foot an extra security bill in order to let the deal go through temporarily scuttled the homeless housing agreement.

“We talked to the mayor and addressed her concerns,” Petra said about conversations with West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi. He said that the state will be working with West Haven to find additional places to stay for roughly 40 homeless individuals living in West Haven.

“I’m saying a prayer right now that our homeless are at least included in this agreement,” Rossi said when reached by phone Wednesday afternoon.

Petra added that around 20 percent of the New Haven homeless population is from West Haven.

He also said that Dr. Richard Cho of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) is coordinating the relocation of homeless individuals from New Haven to the Best Western rooms.

Petra said he did not know how many individuals will be sharing a room. Cho did not respond to an email request for comment by the publication time of this article.

The rooms at the Best Western will accommodate the last 80 or so people staying at the Grand Avenue shelter and a Winthrop Avenue warming center as well as another up to 60 people currently on the streets looking for safe lodging, according to New Haven Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal. Some people who show no signs of having contracted the coronavirus could safely double up, while others would have their own rooms.