During the town’s weekly Covid press conference on Wednesday, Diane Kelly, president of Greenwich Hospital, said they were caring for 2 Covid-positive patients in-house. Neither were vaccinated.
Throughout the Yale-New Haven Health System’s five hospitals, 57 patients were being cared for.
“We’re pleased and optimistic that those are both manageable numbers,” Ms Kelly said. “Of course we are always wanting it to be zero.”
Ms Kelly said the hospital is giving out boosters as they become available.
“Right now we are offering the Moderna booster shot in our Noble conference room. People can visit the hospital’s website to find available time slots,” she said.
At Greenwich Hospital, and throughout the Yale New Hospital Health System, over 99% of employees have complied with the request to have two vaccines.
Ms Kelly said the hospital was working on a detailed plan to rollout vaccines for children 5-11.
A smaller dose of the Pfizer vaccine cleared a hurdle earlier this week for use in young children, after a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted to recommend it for emergency use authorization for children age 5 to 11. Next it will go to the FDA, which is expected to issue a final ruling in the coming days.
At that point, nearly the entire US population would eligible for Covid vaccinations. (Only children ages 4 and younger would remain ineligible.)
Dana Marnane from Greenwich Hospital said the hospital was coordination with pediatricians’ offices, and had also lined up vaccination sites including the Noble Conference room. The hospital has no plans to offer the vaccines at local schools.
“It’s an important population. They’re our youth. They’re our future,” Kelly said. “Understandably we needed to be cautious and have the right information for the vaccine, but it’s going to really make a difference. Having them have the same protection we all have is really something to celebrate – both as a registered nurse nurse, health care executive and mother.”
Local Covid numbers as of Oct 26 included a cumulative total of 5,857 positive cases among residents, which represents an increase of 26 from a week earlier.
Total active cases: 6 (down 17 from a week earlier)
Sadly, there was an additional death in the past week, bringing the total deaths to 96.
Vaccination rates in Greenwich
• 12-17 age group (5449 people) – fully vaccinated: 86.57%
• 18-24 (4037) fully vaccinated:fully vaccinated: 80.73%
• 25-44 age group (13,580) 66.61%
• 45-64 age group (18,950 ) fully vaccinated: 81.27%
• age 65+ (10,466) fully vaccinated is 90.39%
Of Greenwich’s overall population of 52,482 residents eligible to be vaccinated, 79.8% are fully vaccinated.
The population who have at least initiated vaccination in Greenwich is 86.69%.
“Those are very solid numbers. There are still areas in the country that are striving to get over 50%, so being close to 80% is very good,” Ms Kelly said. “And every week, more and more people are making that decision to be vaccinated.”