New Canaan Community Update: 5 New COVID Cases, Testing, Mask Wearing REQUIRED Downtown,

This evening New Canaan First Selectman Kevin Moynihan reported that there are five new positive COVID-19 test results among residents since our outcall last Friday.  Moynihan said that two of the cases are related and under the age of 20 while the other three cases are of varying ages and unrelated to each other.  "While the virus is present in our community we are not seeing community transmission at our schools, but rather from interactions outside of the school system," said Moynihan.

New Canaan Health Director notes that there have also been 279 additional negative tests reported for New Canaan residents to the state Department of Public Health since last Friday.  "Our Health Director urges residents to report positive cases directly to our Health Department in order to facilitate rapid contact tracing to assist in keeping schools open and operating safely," said Moynihan.

The Health Department office phone number is 203-594-3037 and after-hours/weekends please call 203-585-8209. 

For complete information about our COVID-19 cases since March see the COVID-19 page of the Town website at www.newcanaan.info.   

Read additional updates from Moynihan below:

Testing

Covid-19 testing is available at area hospitals and urgent care facilities.  There is also convenient PCR testing at CVS pharmacy stores in Stamford on High Ridge Road and Hope Street with results in 2-3 days.  In addition, there is free PCR testing at Community Health Center (CHC) on  Day Street in Norwalk with results in 2-3 days.  Both the CVS and CHC testing sites do not require a physician’s prescription and CHC does pediatric testing as well.  If you are symptomatic please self-quarantine while test results are pending in order to protect our community at large. 

As a reminder, the common symptoms of COVID-19 are: sore throat, fever over 100.4, chills or shaking chills, new loss of senses of taste or smell, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath and uncontrolled new cough.  The complete list of COVID-19 symptoms can be found on the CDC website.  If you or members of your family have any of these symptoms please consult your primary care physician for evaluation and possible referral for testing.  Please remember if you are symptomatic, stay home from work or school.  

We again remind all residents to continue to practice social distancing when out in public, wear masks when social distancing cannot be maintained, and wash or sanitize hands frequently especially after contact with public surfaces.   

Mask wearing is REQUIRED from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm in the downtown Village district since social distancing is difficult to achieve on busy sidewalks.  We ask parents to remind your teenagers to wear masks when downtown and not to congregate in front of businesses.  We have noticed increased compliance of youth downtown in regards to mask wearing and we thank parents for your assistance with this. 

Finally, we remind you that if you travel to any of the states on the Governor’s list of coronavirus hot states (except for less than 24 hours), you must quarantine for 14 days upon your return home or fulfill the testing requirements outlined in Executive Order 9B and complete the travel form found on the state website. For the most current complete list of applicable states and to download the travel form please visit the State’s coronavirus website (https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus/travel).