This evening, Tuesday, January 12th New Canaan First Selectman Kevin Moynihan provided a community COVID update reporting that last week, New Canaan saw the expected spike in cases from Christmas and New Year holiday gatherings of family and friends that produced our highest weekly positive test results with 89 cases.
"Our Health Director urges residents to eliminate all unnecessary social gatherings to try to bring our case numbers back down and control the spread of COVID-19 in our community. In addition, we’ve had 30 new cases thus far this week," says Moynihan.
Most cases continue to be college-age young adults, high school teenagers, and middle-age parents, according to Moynihan.
"Regrettably, last week we also lost two more New Canaan residents whose deaths were ruled COVID-19 related, although both individuals had significant co-morbidities. Both individuals resided at home and one was early 50s and the other over 90," says Moynihan.
Continue reading the community update below that includes COVID testing and information regarding the vaccine schedule.
COVID Testing
Our community testing at Lapham Center continued last week with some adjustments due to Public Schools reopening testing. With all results back from last week’s Monday through Saturday testing there were 11 positives out of 351 tested for a positivity rate of 3.13%. These test results are included in the above-reported numbers. Our local testing data continues to trend well below the fluctuating State of CT positivity rate that varies around 7% daily.
We will continue our 6-days/week community testing in collaboration with Waveny LifeCare Network at Lapham Center this week Monday through Saturday (January 11 - January 16), 7:00 am to 10:00 am. The link for the upcoming Thursday to Saturday and next Tuesday and Wednesday (January 19 and 20) test dates (No testing on Monday, MLK Day) is contained in the email version of this outcall or you can find it in the red COVID-19 alert box on the town website at www.newcanaan.info. (The Sign Up Genius link for the upcoming testing days is: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/COVID19testingJan14-16.) Please note that we cannot accommodate walk-ins at the test site.
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 Sign Up Genius registration. Results will be provided within 72 hours by email with a message notifying you the results are ready in your portal so please provide your cell phone number as your contact number. Please note every individual being tested must have their own unique email in order to receive the results via email through the patient portal with the lab.
Vaccine
In regards to the vaccination schedule, the State is currently in Phase 1a and shortly we will begin Phase 1b with vaccination of First Responders that do not respond to medical calls. If you are a Phase 1a healthcare worker (MD, RN, LPN, etc.) and your employer has not imported you into VAMS to schedule a vaccination appointment please contact the Director of Health so she can assist you with your VAMS vaccination appointment at jen.eielson@newcanaanct.gov. Decisions on who will be vaccinated after the First Responders are still being made at the Governor’s office and we will update the community as more information becomes available. The Governor has just decided that vaccination of seniors age 75+ will be included in the next Phase 1b. How the seniors will be vaccinated will depend largely on the allocation of doses so we ask for patience as demand currently far exceeds supply.
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 immediately. If you are in need of immediate testing please contact your physician for a prescription to an area hospital for testing.
We also remind residents that if you travel to any of the states or countries on the CT Travel Advisory list (except for less than 24 hours), you must quarantine for 10 days upon your return home or fulfill the testing requirements outlined in Executive Order 9S and also complete the travel form found on the state’s coronavirus website (https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus/travel).
Finally, we again urge you to please do your part in controlling the spread of the virus by wearing a mask anywhere where you cannot social distance, wash hands frequently and avoid any large gatherings where you will be exposed to non-family members.