Update: This story has been updated to reflect that on one day, Dec. 6, there were 1,978 vehicles admitted to Tod’s Point and 519 turned away, not “last week.”
During the now weekly press conference First Selectman Fred Camillo and Greenwich Hospital CEO Diane Kelly gave a Covid update and answered questions.
Camillo said that he heard from our parks director that on Dec 6 at almost 2,000 cars were admitted to Greenwich Point and 519 turned away.
He said policies would continue to reflect that the town is in a “red zone.”
Diane Kelly, CEO of Greenwich Hospital, said last week there were 38 inpatients, but this Wednesday there were just 34.
“We’re seeing patients come in, but we are seeing good amounts of patients being discharged,” she said. “Just yesterday we had six patients discharged.”
She said there were two patients in the ICU, both on ventilators.
Ms Kelly said right now the numbers reflect consequences of Thanksgiving. “It’s not a perfect science, but what’s good is we’re hitting a bit of a plateau.”
“We are hitting a small wave but it is nowhere near where it was six months ago,” she said, but added, “We are at a very important juncture. If we can just get through these next couple of months, where hopefully we’ll start to see the vaccine become available to more people in the population, we’ll start to break the curve.”
As of Wednesday, there were 98 active cases, down 12 from 110 last week.
Unfortunately an additional person has died from Covid-19 since last week, bringing the total fatalities in Greenwich to 59.
“We suspect probably because of the time of year we’re in, and the predicted second wave upon us, and with Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years, we have a few more weeks of gatherings, and two weeks after that would be mid-January,” he said. “We may start to see a little bit of stabilization at that point. But also we may see the effects of vaccinations that are starting to weave their way through our towns and our states.”
“But we have some tough times ahead of us in the next few weeks,” he added.
Camillo said the total number of Covid cases overall in Greenwich was 1,867, which is up 211 from the previous week.
Ms. Kelly said Greenwich Hospital was working closely with the Dept of Public Health on coordinating distribution of vaccine doses.
“We are hoping that mid next week we’ll see those doses available. We have our teams ready to go and our processes in place,” Ms Kelly said. “It’s just simply when they’ll be released to us.”
Camillo said the town would initiate a public education campaign about the vaccine when the moment comes.
He added that town playing fields remained closed.
Also, he said that Tod’s Point, which in a typical year is open to non-residents and dogs beginning Dec 1, is closed to non residents and a maximum capacity has been imposed.
“I feel bad because I know a lot of people from beyond Greenwich’s borders look forward to coming to Tod’s Point every year. We look forward to having them back, but we just can’t do it right now.”
See also:
Dec 7, 2020
Lamont Shares Vaccine Timeline for CT; Camillo Reports Another Jump in Greenwich’s Covid-19 Numbers
Dec 6, 2020