Today, August 25, at 11:00 a.m., Governor Ned Lamont will hold a news conference in Danbury to discuss the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Danbury. The Connecticut Department of Public Health on Friday evening issued a COVID-19 alert for Danbury. The governor will be joined by Mayor Mark Boughton, Connecticut Department of Public Health Acting Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford, City of Danbury Acting Health Director Kara Prunty, and other local officials.
On August 21, the Connecticut Department of Public Health issued a COVID-19 alert for Danbury after a significant increase in cases in the last two weeks, with much of the outbreak related to recent domestic and international travel. Connecticut is requiring anyone traveling to the state from many other US states to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. In addition, the CDC recommends anyone returning from international travel from countries with wide spread transmission of COVID-19 to self-quarantine for the same period of time. DPH is coordinating with municipal and local health officials in Danbury to get the word out among community centers and churches to take extra precautions, immediately. Those precautions include: staying home when possible and limiting outings, wearing masks anytime you leave home, limiting indoor gatherings to only those you live with, refraining from attending large church services for the time being, and not attending large outdoor gatherings. Between August 2–20, Danbury recorded at least 178 new COVID-19 cases, a sharp increase over the previous two-week period when only 40 new cases were recorded.
“This is a serious outbreak in Danbury and we really need an all hands on deck approach. We need everyone in Danbury to take extreme precaution,” said Acting DPH Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford, MD MPH on the 21st. “We appreciate the partnership with municipal and health department leadership in Danbury, as well as health care providers that have testing sites available for members of the community. We are urging anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to get tested as soon as possible, stay home until your test results are known and stay at home for 10 days if you test positive.”
Commissioner Gifford continued, “We need you to answer your phone if a contact tracer tries to get in touch. If you are over the age of 60 or have a chronic disease and live in Danbury, you should stay home. We need employers to help make sure everyone with symptoms or who was exposed is staying home and not coming to work. Friends and neighbors could help by supporting those who need to stay home with food and other errands. We can limit spread of the virus if we all work together.”
