Connecticut added another 49 COVID-19-related deaths since yesterday, bringing its total to 326. Another 110 persons have been hospitalized, bringing that total to 1,418. The new to-date numbers of tests conducted and of positive results are expected later tonight, Gov. Ned Lamont said. Updated county-by-county information is also not yet available.
At today’s briefing, the governor again expressed hope that the virus”™ spread may not be as catastrophic as originally predicted. Its move across the state is “not as fast” as had been feared, he said, crediting social distancing measures as a major factor.
Lamont also broke down the numbers by ethnicity. African-Americans in the state comprise the majority of infections and deaths, with Hispanics the second-most infections and third-most deaths; whites have the third-most infections and second-most deaths, while Asians are fourth in both categories.
The governor said those numbers can be attributed in part to blacks and Hispanics being more likely to be disadvantaged, to live in an urban environment in smaller apartments where it is harder to practice social distancing, and the fact that they are typically more prone to debilitating diseases such as asthma and diabetes.
Department of Labor Commissioner Kurt Westby said that progress is being made in processing the “tsunami” of unemployment claims the state has received ”“ 302,000 since March 13, which he said was equal to two years of usual claim activity.
By quadrupling staff from 20 to over 80 “and growing,” Westby said the Labor Department has processed 132,000 of those claims, and that its staff is getting to the remaining claims as quickly as possible. One of two technical fixes to its 40-year-old computer system has already yielded 40,000 processed claims, while the other, which essentially “forces” claims into an automated process, should “drastically reduce the backlog,” he said.
Those filing unemployment claims going forward are facing a five- to six-week wait for payment, Westby said, but if they apply using the automated system, the wait will be “significantly shorter.” All payments will be retroactive to filing date, he noted.
The governor said he understood that the promised $1,200 relief checks from the federal government should be arriving “as soon as next week.”
The state”™s supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) is adequate for the time being, Lamont said. “We have enough ventilators, and we have extra capacity in Fairfield County and around the state,” he said. “Nobody”™s being denied for lack of a ventilator.”
The state is still working on “significant purchases of PPE,” the governor said. “Right now we have the capacity to take care of most of our front-line responders.”
Josh Geballe, the state”™s COO, said that in the coming days and weeks, there will be a “significant influx” of PPE.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut COVID-19 Charity Connection (4-CT) ”“ the independent, 501(c)3 organization announced on April 1 ”“ said today that it has partnered with the Blavatnik Family Foundation, which is donating $1 million to meet the need for ventilators, personal protective equipment and additional ICU space at Nuvance Health, whose four Connecticut facilities include Danbury and Norwalk Hospitals.
Also at today’s briefing, Chief, Healthcare Quality & Safety Branch of the Department of Health Barbara Cass said there are about 2,000 empty nursing home beds in the state. The Health Department is working to add more recovery and alternate care sites for nursing home residents who are discharged from hospital. About 39% of the state”™s 215 nursing homes have at least one infected patient, Lamont added.
LOOKING FOR MONEY
Connecticut”™s municipalities are asking for Lamont and the state”™s Congressional delegation to distribute a portion of the money that Connecticut will receive as part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to its cities and towns.
The law allocates considerable funding to states to combat the (coronavirus) scourge,” Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) Executive Director Joe DeLong wrote to Lamont. “We urge you to provide meaningful state CARES funding to cities and towns. As you so aptly stated recently: ”˜Mayors and first selectmen are the closest on the ground to each community, and the best approach for our state is to have a unified strategy on COVID-19 with our city and town leaders.”™”
“The CARES law, among other things, provides direct funding to local governments with populations over 500,000,” DeLong noted. “As you well know, no municipality in Connecticut comes close to that threshold. However, according to the U.S. Treasury, a state could make a grant to a subgrantee such as a unit of local government that does not have a population that exceeds 500,000. States can pass the money through as long as the funds are used in the same way.”
Meanwhile, today”™s State Bond Commission teleconference meeting to approve the disbursement of much needed state funds to Connecticut’s municipalities was hampered by technical difficulties. Lamont said the meeting will be rescheduled for next week.
The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is still processing the 5,000-plus applications it received for its $50 million Recovery Bridge Loan program, which was suspended 24 hours after launching due to the high demand.
DECD Commissioner David Lehman said an announcement could be made later this week about a partnership with lenders possessing the technology needed to process the loans, which are capped at up to the lesser of either three months”™ operating expenses or $75,000. The department hopes to begin distributing those funds by month”™s end.
NEW WORKPLACE RULES
As noted yesterday, the governor has signed Executive Order No. 7V to further increase workplace safety at essential businesses. Immediately upon issuance of the executive order, the Department of Economic and Community Development published the Safe Workplaces Rules for Essential Employers on its website, outlining guidance for these businesses. Those rules went into effect immediately.
Among the executive order’s mandates:
- Safe workplaces in essential businesses: Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to work in consultation with the Department of Public Health on the development of legally binding statewide rules prescribing additional protective measures that every workplace in Connecticut deemed essential ”“ and any other business or nonprofit allowed to remain open ”“ must follow. Such rules will be mandatory throughout the state.
- Temporary permits for certain health care providers extended and fees waived: Waives the application fees for temporary permits for each of the health care professions that are administered by the Department of Public Health. It also extends the duration of the temporary permits for the duration of the public health and civil preparedness emergency, unless otherwise modified.
- Practice before licensure for certain health care profession applicants and graduates: Allows recent medical school and other medical profession graduates who are not yet licensed to participate in the state”™s COVID-19 response for the duration of the public health and civil preparedness emergency. This is necessary during the emergency period because the ability to take the required exams or other steps to receive a license have been suspended.
- Practice before licensure for marital and family therapy associates: Allows those who have recently completed an accredited graduate degree program in marital and family therapy offered by a postgraduate clinical training program to practice without a license for the duration of the public health and civil preparedness emergency.
- Practice before licensure for professional counselor associates: Allows recent graduates with a degree in clinical mental health counseling who are not yet licensed to practice as a professional counselor associate without obtaining a license for the duration of the public health and civil preparedness emergency.
- Protection from civil liability for actions or omissions in support of the state”™s COVID-19 response: Replaces the section of Executive Order No. 7U concerning protection from civil liability for actions or omissions in support of the state”™s COVID-19 response with new language, which adds protection from liability for common law claims ”“ in addition to the previously enacted protection from liability for statutory claims ”“ for health care workers and providers.
Lamont also announced that manufacturers can apply for grants of up to $75,000 to assist in the production of critical equipment and supplies needed to respond to the COVID-19 emergency. The grants, offered through the state”™s Manufacturing Innovation Fund Voucher Program, can be used for working capital, new equipment, and other purposes that help companies build capacity or repurpose their operations.
Applications for the funding will be reviewed and approved by the DECD, in partnership with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, based on the state”™s current needs for medical equipment and supplies related to the pandemic. Funding for the short-term program is limited to $1.3 million and requires a one-to-one match from participating businesses. More information about the program and the application process can be found at https://ctmvp.ccat.us.
TRUMP, SLIPPING IN POLLS, CRITICIZES WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
In a CNN poll released today, 52% disapproved of how President Donald Trump is handling combating the crisis, up from about 48% disapproval in its early March poll. The federal government rated a 55% disapproval rating in the new poll, compared with 47% at the end of March. CNN’s poll was conducted on April 3-6 with a sample size of 1,002 Americans and a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
A Monmouth University poll also released today found 49% saying they disapproved of Trump”™s response, up from 45% in March. Its poll was conducted from April 3-7 with a sample size of 857 adults and a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
And today”™s weekly Ipsos/Reuters poll found public approval of Trump”™s handling of COVID-19 dropping to 42% from last week”™s 48%. That poll was conducted April 6-7 with a sample size of 1,116 Americans and a margin error of 3.3 percentage points.
Following Trump”™s remarks yesterday about the World Health Organization”™s response to the outbreak ”“ he accused the group of “missing the call,” said its response “seemed to be very China-centric,” and announced that “We”™re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO” ”“ its director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, today said, “We want to learn from our mistakes ”¦. for now, the focus should be on fighting this virus.”
“Please don”™t politicize this virus,” he added. “If you want to be exploited and you want to have many more body bags, then you do it. If you don”™t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.”
As of this writing, there are about 420,000 positive cases and more than 14,000 virus-related deaths in the U.S., and over 1.5 million positive cases and nearly 88,000 deaths globally.
