As a powerful weather system bringing rain and punishing wind gusts hit Newtown on Monday, April 13, the ongoing surge of Fairfield County COVID-19 positive cases included at least 60 now identified locally by Health District Director Donna Culbert.

Late in the day April 12, the state reported a total of 12,035 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Connecticut residents — 1,654 patients are currently hospitalized, and there have been 554 COVID-19-associated deaths. Of those cases, 5,534 are in Fairfield County with the total number of corresponding county hospitalizations standing at 688, and 248 reported fatalities.

With Litchfield County directly to Newtown’s north, the number of positive cases there was 403 Sunday with 24 deaths, versus New Haven County to Newtown’s east tallying 2,946 confirmed cases and 119 dead.

Eversource is continuing to operate under its COVID-19 pandemic plan while closely monitoring the powerful rain and wind storm conditions Monday. While adhering to its strict social distancing, hygiene and enhanced sanitation measures to safeguard the health and well-being of workers and customers, the energy company’s line and tree crews are ready to respond to any damage or outages caused by this storm.

“With many customers working remotely and students relying on technology for distance learning during this unprecedented time, we recognize how important it is to have reliable power,” said Eversource Vice President of Electric Operations Mike Hayhurst. “Our team will work around-the-clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible — yet some restorations may take longer as we work to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.”

With dozens of downed trees and / or wires already reported in Newtown as of noon time Monday, Eversource reminds customers to always stay clear of downed wires and to report them immediately to 9-1-1. Report any outage online at www.eversource.com, or by calling 800-286-2000.

Customers who signed up for the company’s two-way texting feature can send a text to report an outage and receive outage updates as they happen. Additional preparedness tips can be found at Eversource.com.

Over the Easter weekend, state government remained active as health care workers and emergency responders continued to work assisting patients on the front lines of the battle against the novel coronavirus that has taken such a toll on public health and the economy.

Nursing Home Mitigation

Positive COVID-19 cases are continuing to mount in state nursing homes with just under half of all facilities in the state reporting one case or more. On Saturday, April 11, Governor Ned Lamont reported that among 215 nursing homes in the state, 105 (49%) have had at least one confirmed case of the virus.

No Newtown nursing homes are reporting on the state’s list, although there are cases at facilities in Bethel, Southbury, Danbury, Shelton, and Trumbull. A total of 1,362 nursing home residents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 had been identified statewide as of Saturday evening, of whom 352 (26%) were hospitalized and 195 (14%) have died.

While questions about related cases and the state’s plan to deal with them have been part of the governor’s daily press briefings for weeks, on Saturday Lamont signed an executive order implementing a medical surge plan for long-term care facilities he announced three days earlier.

The latest order will establish COVID-19 recovery centers in certain nursing homes throughout the state that will accept patients who can be discharged from acute care hospitals but are still impacted by COVID-19 infection.

The order establishes the first two COVID-19 recovery centers at Sharon Health Care Center in Sharon and Northbridge Healthcare Center in Bridgeport, and gives authority to Department of Public Health (DPH) Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell to create additional centers at other locations throughout the state as needed.

Commissioner Coleman-Mitchell said that she intends to authorize the formation of an additional recovery center at Torrington Health and Rehabilitation Center in Torrington, and is in the process of finalizing details for more recovery centers in other locations to be announced in the coming days.

“People who live in nursing homes are among the most vulnerable, and this plan is needed in order to protect those who are negative for the virus while providing adequate areas of recovery for those who have tested positive and can be discharged from hospitals,” Governor Lamont said.

Public Health Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell said, “We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure our nursing home residents get the care they need and that nursing home staff are protected with enough equipment. These new COVID-19 recovery centers will provide hundreds of new beds for COVID-19 care all over the state, and this will help to make hospital beds available to absorb the surge of hospitalizations we anticipate in the next couple of weeks.”

The governor’s attention to the matter is not coming without pushback, however, as the Waterbury Republican-American reported Monday that Sharon’s First Selectman Brent M. Colley does not think naming the Sharon Health Care Center a coronavirus recovery facility is a good idea, and he is calling on residents to make their voices heard by state officials on the issue.

Helping Providers, Businesses

Also on Saturday, in an effort to boost capacity for COVID-19 patients, the state began converting the Connecticut Convention Center into a recovery center with the assistance of the Connecticut National Guard. This facility will be licensed for operation and staffed by Hartford Healthcare.

The recovery center will house up to 600 patients as they receive recovery care following COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment. The Connecticut Convention Center is the third recovery center to be stood up by the state during this pandemic, with the other two locations being at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.

In a continuing effort to help with the current crisis, Washington (Conn.) based Evexia Diagnostics is donating 500 COVID-19 (IgM & IgG) Antibody Tests and an additional 500 COVID-19 RT-PCR Tests to New York City area hospitals. Dr Kevin K. Bodling, President & CEO, said Evexia is now looking to partner with other municipalities and state governments as well as companies that would likely have an interest in utilizing their COVID-19 Antibody Test to test their workers.

Seeking to address and expedite aid to Connecticut and businesses shuttered across the nation due to the outbreak, on Friday, April 10, US Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) joined a letter led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore), along with 17 colleagues, in calling on the Small Business Administration (SBA) to ensure small businesses receive Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) associated with the COVID-19 crisis and the new Emergency Economic Injury Grants (EEIGs) within three days of application as mandated by Congress.

The senators’ letter to SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza follows reports that small businesses across the country are not receiving EEIG advances, despite the fact that they are eligible entities and have taken the necessary steps of applying for an EIDL and requesting an EEIG.

“Small businesses across the country are counting on this federally-mandated relief, and it is imperative that the SBA ensure they receive it efficiently and effectively,” the senators wrote. “Businesses are receiving conflicting guidance on the expected timing for receiving these critical funds, and many businesses cannot afford to wait as they try to keep their employees on payroll and pay their rent.”

The senators also asked the SBA to clarify whether small businesses who applied for an EIDL prior to March 27, when the CARES Act was signed into law, must now reapply in order to receive it and the EEIG, and if the SBA requires additional action or resources from Congress to be able to fully execute the small business relief provisions of the CARES Act.

Postal Protocols, Resources

On Monday, Kevin Clark of the US Postal Service – Connecticut Valley District wrote to The Newtown Bee stating that whether it’s medications, a package, a paycheck, benefits or pension check, a bill or letter from a family member, postal workers understand that every piece of mail is important. However, Clark said the Postal Service needs help in communities with social distancing.

“We are asking people to not approach our carriers to accept delivery, including the vehicle,” he said in his memo. “Let the carrier leave the mailbox before collecting the mail. With schools not in session, children should also be encouraged to not approach a postal vehicle or carrier.”

Clark said if a delivery requires a signature, carriers will knock on the door rather than touching the bell. They will maintain a safe distance, and instead of asking for a signature on their mobile device, they’ll ask for the resident’s name. The carrier will leave the mail or package in a safe place for retrieval.

Clark also reminded residents that the CDC, World Health Organization, as well as the Surgeon General indicate there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 is being spread through the mail.

For the most up-to-date information from the State of Connecticut on COVID-19, including an FAQ and other guidance and resources, residents are encouraged to visit ct.gov/coronavirus.

Individuals who have general questions that are not answered on the website can also call 211 for assistance. The hotline and corresponding website is available 24 hours a day and has multilingual assistance and TDD/TTY access.

The Newtown Bee is continuing to provide and mirror information and messages coming from local and state agencies on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. Newtown residents can get more details by visiting:

*Town of Newtown COVID-19 web page - CLICK HERE

*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CLICK HERE

*World Health Organization - CLICK HERE

Residents can also review all prior COVID-19 updates and follow the newspaper’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages for breaking local and state reports.

Please check in regularly, share, and follow the newspaper’s hyperlocal coverage at newtownbee.com through the remainder of this public health emergency.