New Canaan COVID Update: 33 New Cases, Town Continues Testing

This evening, New Canaan First Selectman Kevin Moynihan provided a COVID update reporting 33 new positive cases (across all age demographics) since Thursday's outcall.

"For the same period, the State DPH reported a total of 1018 tests for New Canaan residents, or a positivity rate of 3.24%.   By comparison, the State of Connecticut’s 7-days rolling average positivity rate today is 6.61%," said Moynihan.

Moynihan said that Waveny community testing at Lapham Center for six days last week produced only 6 positive cases out of 319 residents tested. "These 6 positive cases from the Waveny testing are included in the 33 new cases since they were reported over the weekend.  Also included in the 33 new cases are two positive cases from testing of over 500 New Canaan Public School teachers, staff and students at New Canaan High School and Saxe last Friday," he said.  

According to Moynihan, New Canaan Health Department continues to see cases spread primarily among family members and by contact with babysitters, nannies, playdates, dinner parties and small gatherings.

Please continue reading below for the complete update.

It is imperative that if you are around others who are not members of your immediate household that you wear a mask and practice social distancing to the greatest extent possible.  Families are reminded to isolate positive family members as much as possible, sanitize common contact surfaces and have positive family members use a separate bathroom if possible. 

TESTING

The Town is continuing its collaboration with Waveny LifeCare Network to offer daily PCR nasal swab testing at Lapham Center Monday through Saturday, 7:00 am to 10:00 am.  We cannot accommodate walk-ins at the site.  The link for this Thursday through Saturday test dates (December 10 – 12) is sent only by email or you can find it in the red COVID-19 alert box on the town website at www.newcanaan.info. (The SignUpGenius link for testing this Thursday through Saturday is: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/COVID19testingDec10-12.) 

For the Waveny testing at Lapham Center you must sign up each person in the household under their own name and date of birth.  Please be sure to include complete insurance information in the text box in the SignUpGenius registration.  Results will be provided within 72 hours by email or text message so please provide your cell phone number as your contact number.  It is important to note that we are not recommending that everyone get tested; rather, we are encouraging those with any potential Covid-19 symptom, those who had a potential exposure to a positive case and those with essential jobs who have a lot of interaction with the public get tested. 

If you have children in any of the schools or daycares please contact them immediately upon receiving a positive test result in order for them to begin their part of contact tracing. You may also report any positive cases directly to the New Canaan Health Department at 203-594-3037. 

As a reminder, if you are symptomatic please do not attend work, school, or any public or private gathering.  The symptoms for COVID-19 vary and some symptoms include: new loss of sense of smell or taste, sore throat, shortness of breath, dry cough, fever, body aches, chills, fatigue, and congestion. For a complete list of COVID 19 symptoms please visit www.cdc.gov.  We want to stress how important it is to recognize symptoms of COVID-19 and get tested. 

Residents are reminded that if you travel to any of the states or countries on the list (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 also complete the travel form found on the state’s coronavirus website (https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus/travel). 

Finally, please do your part in controlling the spread of the virus by wearing a mask anywhere where you cannot social distance, washing hands frequently and avoiding large gatherings.