During Governor Lamont’s press conference Monday afternoon he said hospitalizations in Connecticut were down but the fatality rate from COVID-19 remained high.
The Governor noted that Fairfield County’s hospitalization rates were down, but that both New Haven and Hartford Counties rates were flat.
He said hospitalization rates reflected not only the number of people entering hospitals, but the number coming out.
“Hopefully there is a trend going on,” he said, adding that 14 consecutive days of declining hospitalizations would be “an indicator that you can get back to opening some things up on a limited basis.”
“Twenty-eight days gives you a lot more flexibility,” he added. “We’re about 7 days into this downward slope. In another 7 to 10 days we might make some announcements about places people can go.”
Asked about the proposed volunteer-run high school senior graduation ceremony on June 22 at all high schools across the state, Lamont responded, “We don’t allow mass gatherings, but it seems like an interesting idea. I hadn’t heard about it. You described something that might be an ingenious way to allow some young people to have a nice end to their senior year of high school, so let me think about that.”
In Greenwich, Greenwich Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer Diane Kelly joined during First Selectman Fred Camillo’s daily press conference call, and echoed Lamont’s remarks.
“What we’re hearing, and a CDC recommendation, is to start looking for a consecutive 14 day decline. That would be a really good positive indication for all of us,” she said. “We’re on day 4 if you subscribe to that philosophy.”
Describing other positive developments, Kelly added, “It is encouraging because we are seeing fewer patients test positive, and fewer patients come into the hospital (with COVID-19). And we’re continuing to see patients discharged. We are also seeing more patients come into the hospital with a non-Covid diagnoses.”
Asked about “quarantine fatigue,” Kelly warned, “We have to have 14 days of consecutive decline to know we’re truly making progress.”
Asked for further clarification on town policies, Camillo said that at The Griff golf course, the Town’s public golf course, set to reopen on May 4 from 8:00amto 6:00pm, there would likely be a 12-minute interval between golfers when the course reopens, and that protocol surrounding golf cart use was being finalized. Last week Camillo said tee time reservations would only be available online. No walk-ups will be allowed.
As for policy regarding town beaches, Camillo said, “We’ll come out with a plan very shortly for partial re opening of the beach. Very soon. But not in the sand. We saw what happened in California and Florida.”
“It’s hard to police,” he continued. “Because nice weather is coming and people have been overwhelmingly terrific in following guidelines – we’ll be monitoring it. …Everybody is working together.”
Daily COVID-19 updates are as follows:
To date 630 Greenwich residents had tested positive for COVID-19, which was 17 more than Friday.
As of Sunday, April 26, a total of 33 people from Greenwich had died from the COVID-19 virus.
Greenwich Hospital reports that as of Monday, April 27, 2020, there were 73 COVID-19 positive patients being treated in several different Hospital units.
So far, 341 patients have been discharged from Greenwich Hospital and continue their recuperation at home.
Lastly, 4,481 people have been tested at Greenwich Hospital’s outpatient test site with 1,582 testing positive. This includes non-Greenwich residents.
See also:
UPDATE: Lamont Says Statewide Graduation Day for Class of 2020 Might be “Ingenious”