COVID-19 LATEST: Strategy to reopen coming together as CT fatalities near 1,000
The formulation of Connecticut”™s strategy for restarting the economy is quickly gaining momentum, according to the co-chairs of the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Board, as the state”™s COVID-19-related deaths grew by 103 to total 971.
Connecticut recorded another 2,979 tests for a total of 53,122, which netted another 1,129 positive results to bring that figure to 15,844. The state also added just 18 hospitalizations ”“ the lowest number in some time, according to Gov. Ned Lamont ”“ to bring that total to 1,926.
Fairfield County recorded just three new hospitalizations, bringing that number to 787. However, the county also added another 41 deaths, for a total of 406.
A county-by-county breakdown includes:
| County | Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 Cases | Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 Hospitalizations | Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19-Associated Deaths |
| Fairfield County | 6,816 | 787 | 406 |
| Hartford County | 2,859 | 420 | 243 |
| Litchfield County | 535 | 27 | 44 |
| Middlesex County | 394 | 39 | 30 |
| New Haven County | 4,163 | 613 | 214 |
| New London County | 255 | 23 | 9 |
| Tolland County | 241 | 11 | 22 |
| Windham County | 87 | 6 | 1 |
| Pending address validation | 534 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 15,884 | 1,926 | 971 |
New hospital admissions are down by 10% in the county, Lamont said, while Hartford County’s rate of hospitalizations is up by 30% as the virus moves north.
“For the last month or two we’ve been in the airplane and building it at the same time,” Lamont said. The plan now, he said, is to determine “what is a soft landing for that airplane.”
CREATING THE STRATEGY
The Reopen Connecticut Advisory Board, whose formation was announced just three days ago, is quickly moving forward in strategizing its moves, according to co-chairs Indra Nooyi and Dr. Albert Ko, who joined today”™s briefing by livestream.
Nooyi, co-director of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, said the state”™s strategy would be dependent upon fact-based analytics, a careful consideration of public health, and leveraging a sustainable approach. Timelines for the staging of the reopening will be established within the next week or so, she said, and will include specific business-based criteria for reopening the economy.
“We want to give people hope the economy is coming back,” she said.
Ko, chairman of the epidemiology department at the Yale School of Medicine, said that from a health care perspective, before anything can be reopened, there must be a consecutive 14-day period of declining cases and hospitalizations; mass testing, contact tracing and self-isolation; protection of high-risk populations; an adequate supply of PPE; continued physical distancing regulations; and an adequate capacity of health care for all, “not only those with COVID infections.”
He added that the assumption is that a vaccine is 18 months away from mass availability, and that everyone must accept that reopening will still require social distancing.
Demographic and geographic factors will also play a part, Lamont said, with younger, less-susceptible people likely to be allowed to return to public life before older people.
Also, he added, “If you open up something in Pomfret and close it in New Haven, you”™re going to get a lot of back-and-forth,” indicating that Connecticut may ultimately open or shut on a statewide basis (or, in accordance with the regional approach that includes New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and other Northeastern states, on a regional basis).
May 20 “remains a decision node,” the governor said. By that date ”“ when Lamont”™s latest mandatory order for schools and nonessential businesses to close is due to expire ”“ the state expects to have “a lot more” gear and testing available.
Josh Geballe, the state”™s COO, said that Connecticut has directly negotiated a contract with China ”“ which had never happened before, “as you can probably imagine” ”“ for PPE. He said that hundreds of thousands of pieces have been received and are being distributed.
As for Lamont”™s executive order that people should wear face masks in public, the governor repeated that “common sense” should decide whether someone wears one or not. That would depend on the circumstance, he said: Someone walking alone on a street might choose not to wear one, but anyone entering a grocery store should. “Is it a punishable offense? We”™re not thinking of it like that,” he said.
SBA PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM OUT OF MONEY
The Small Business Administration”™s $349 billion loan program was exhausted today, as Republicans and Democrats continue to discuss how to replenish it.
The SBA is “unable to accept new applications at this time for the Paycheck Protection Program or the Economic Injury Disaster Loan-COVID-19 related assistance program (including EIDL Advances) based on available appropriations funding,” according to its website. “EIDL applicants who have already submitted their applications will continue to be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.”
Yesterday the SBA announced that it had approved nearly 1.4 million loans at a value of over $301 billion.
Congressional leaders are essentially split along party lines on how to refinance the PPP. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) favors a bill that would add $250 billion to the program, while Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) are seeking an additional $100 billion for hospitals and $150 billion for state and local governments.
The exhaustion of the PPP comes on the same day that the U.S. Labor Department announced that, for the week ending April 11, more than 5.2 million initial unemployment claims were filed, bringing that number to about 22 million over the past four weeks. Wells Fargo analysts said those figures indicate that the nation”™s unemployment rate could be around 15% by month”™s end; it was 8.2% for the week ended April 4.
OTHER D.C. DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1st) of Connecticut has joined the Trump administration’s task force on reopening the national economy.
“When the president of the United States asks you to join a task force to address challenges like this one, you do so for the sake of the country, even though I have strong disagreements with him on many issues,” Larson said. “In spite of our differences, in times of crisis we must work together. My service on the task force will give Connecticut a seat at the table.”
President Donald Trump was to announce at 6 p.m. new guidelines to allow some states to quickly relax their social distancing measures, with those decisions to ultimately be made by each state”™s governor.
“We”™ll be opening some states much sooner than others,” Trump declared yesterday, saying that data shows the country is “past the peak” of pandemic. Those numbers, he said, have “put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country.”
Over the past 24 hours, the U.S. has recorded about 22,000 additional positive cases and over 3,000 more deaths, bringing those totals to nearly 654,000 and about 31,000, respectively.
Also as of this writing, there are over 2.1 million cases and more than 141,000 deaths globally.