By Richard Kaufman
Sentinel Reporter
With Christmas on Friday, New Year’s next week, and people expected to travel to celebrate, Greenwich officials are urging residents to keep their guard up against COVID-19.
On Wednesday, First Selectman Fred Camillo and Greenwich Hospital President Diane Kelly gave an update on the coronavirus in town. Kelly reminded residents that when in doubt, wear a mask.
“If you’re not sure you should wear your mask, wear it. If you’re asking that question to yourself, if somebody is in your home and you’re thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not sure,’ just wear it. It can do no harm, and it can do a world of good,” she said, noting that many people are testing positive without any symptoms. “I would also say be very mindful of not inviting new people into your home, meaning people that you’re not living with. I know it’s really hard over the holidays. Hopefully this will be our last major holiday that we have to endure, but if we don’t follow that practice, it won’t be the last.”
Camillo echoed those sentiments, telling people to enjoy this time of year, but in a safe manner. “Keep your masks on and your guard up,” he said.
The sound advice comes at a time where there are 133 active COVID cases in Greenwich, an increase of 24 from a week ago. In total, there have been 2,245 Greenwich residents who have tested positive since the pandemic began, and 63 total deaths — three of which have occurred in the last week.
At Greenwich Hospital as of Wednesday afternoon, there are 42 COVID-positive patients being treated, with two of them in the Intensive Care Unit.
“[Our numbers] have been pretty much consistent with us for the last couple of weeks, fluctuating here and there. As a system, though, we are hoping to be at a little bit of a plateau. We’re not seeing any spikes. We’re continuing to watch this,” Kelly said.
Vaccinations for frontline healthcare workers within the Yale New Haven Health System and Greenwich Hospital began last week. Since then, Kelly said, Greenwich Hospital has vaccinated over 230 caregivers, with 341 more people scheduled to take their first shots over the next five days.
“Every day, we’re able to do more and more. It’s a huge undertaking to vaccinate this many people all at once, but we’re up to the task,” Kelly said.
As a whole, the Yale New Haven Health System hopes to vaccinate 30,000 healthcare workers over the span of 8-9 weeks. “That’s a significant contribution to the state of Connecticut of people being vaccinated. We’re feeling very optimistic that we’re starting to take some proactive actions against this,” said Kelly.
Recently, a mutated strain of COVID-19 that’s more contagious was detected in the UK, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said people should assume it’s in the United States — and that perhaps it even originated here.
Many experts have said that the newly developed vaccines should still be effective against this new strain, and Kelly said Greenwich Hospital believes the same.
Both Kelly and Camillo said they were looking forward to when their numbers are called to get vaccinated.
On Wednesday, Yale New Haven Health received a shipment of the Moderna vaccine; it was recently approved by the FDA. Going forward, Greenwich Hospital will administer both Pfizer and Moderna doses.
