Tom Breen Photo
Mayor Justin Elicker pioneers the Zoom press conference.
A local rehab clinic employee became the ninth city resident to test positive for covid-19, and, starting this weekend, city police will drive around town playing public service announcements over loudspeakers about the importance of social distancing and washing one’s hands thoroughly.
Those were a few updates announced by Mayor Justin Elicker during a Saturday afternoon press briefing about the latest impact and local government response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. It was the first City Hall presser on the subject to take place not in person downtown, but instead through the online video conferencing app Zoom .
Elicker and city Health Director Maritza Bond said the ninth New Havener to test positive for the novel coronavirus is a worker in their late 50s at a local rehab clinic.
Bond said the person has been hospitalized, and that the city and the hospital are conducting interviews to trace contacts and figure out exactly how this person contracted the disease and with whom they have been in contact. She promised an update on this latest positive case on Sunday.
Though the city has confirmed only nine positive cases, Elicker said there are likely many more people in New Haven who have been infected with the virus but have not been tested and/or don’t know they have it.
“Nine is likely vastly underestimating the number of cases,” he said.
Testing has been slow to get off the ground all over the country, with test shortages in many places that prevent public health officials from getting an accurate picture of how many people have become infected.
In some hard-hit areas, testing has been restricted to only healthcare workers and hospital patients.
Yale New Haven Hospital has one drive-through sample collection and testing center up and running at 150 Sargent Dr. on Long Wharf. That site does not allow for walk-up visits, but instead requires patients to receive a doctor’s note and schedule an appointment in advance.
Yale has also opened a covid-19 sample collection site at the Prospect Sachem Garage for university employees and students. Like other sites in town (which can handle more people), this site requires people to have an appointment and a clinician’s order.
As cases ramp up and hospitals inch closer to becoming overwhelmed, public health and medical professionals have stressed the same point over and over: Extreme social distancing is the only way to prevent a catastrophe.
Without extreme social distancing, hospitals could soon reach capacity, and the outbreak in the U.S. could spiral out of control.
Officials have urged residents to stay home at all times unless it is absolutely necessary to leave, and to always maintain at least a six-foot distance from anyone they don’t live with.
To that end, Elicker praised Gov. Ned Lamont’s “Stay Safe. Stay Home” order, which orders all non-essential businesses throughout the state to shut their doors and do work remotely starting Monday night. Elicker has already issued a local reduced occupancy order that prohibits social gatherings of more than 10 people.
The mayor said that “all options are still on the table” in terms of his issuing another local order, such as a shelter-in-place order, but that he is currently not leaning towards taking such an action.
The mayor also said that, starting Saturday, local police are going to be driving that point home, quite literally.
Police will drive around the city blasting a message urging people to practice social distancing over loudspeakers, Elicker said.
“People should anticipate hearing those messages starting today and probably for a few days moving forward,” he said. He said the announcement would be a recording of his voice.
The mayor also made a number of other updates Saturday afternoon.
• The city is partnering with United Way of Greater New Haven and other organizations to deliver food to high-risk residents who rely on food pantries. Elicker said the city and its partners are still figuring out the logistics. He said that many emergency food providers are at capacity, so the city is making a plan to help them increase capacity. He said many food pantries normally rely on retiree volunteers who are potentially at a higher risk of serious complications if they become infected with the novel coronavirus. He said the city is looking at ways of helping pantries meet staffing needs in a way that does not endanger high-risk residents and that maintains social distancing.
• The city has “very very few” N95 respirator masks, of which there is a nationwide shortage. “Our team is picking up every stone,” Elicker said, to look for more.
• New Haven Public Schools is looking into ways of continuing education online. The city put out a survey of families to see who has access to the Internet and to Internet-accessible devices like tablets, laptops, and Chromebooks. Of the 9,000 responses so far, 90 percent have said they have access to the Internet, but only 50 percent have access to a device students could use for online learning. He said the district is looking into the possibility of lending devices to students. He said he does not have an estimate of when continued education might begin, and does not know whether students would get credit for the work.
Elicker also had one last plea for residents. This one shouldn’t be too hard to follow. “If you’re using disinfectant wipes, please do not flush them down the toilet, or we’ll have many other problems,” he said.