Coronavirus Update-Exec. Order 10, Vaccine Info & Case Data

February 4^th -Today, the Governor issued Executive Order 10, which includes the following:

• Exclusion of individual stimulus payments from benefit eligibility calculations:
• Suspension of reapplication filing requirement for the additional veterans’ tax relief program.
• Suspension of reapplication filing requirement for the Homeowners’ – Elderly/Disabled Circuit Breaker and Freeze Tax Relief Programs.  (Please note the State no longer funds the State Elderly and Individuals with Disabilities Tax Credit Program.  Each year since, the Wilton Board of Selectmen has voted to provide the funding to ensure eligible Wilton residents continue to receive this important assistance.  As per this order, Wilton residents are exempt from providing the information, which is normally required to be filed every two years.)
• Use of commuter parking facilities as needed for COVID-19 testing and vaccination.
• Renewals of liquor permits extended.
• Paid leave requirements for staff of local and regional boards of education: Federal legislation mandating this expired on December 31, 2020.
• Relaxation of limits on religious gatherings: Eliminates the numerical cap on size of religious gatherings and maintains the capacity limit for these gatherings at 50 percent, effective immediately. 
• Absentee voting eligibility during COVID-19 pandemic: Permits all voters in any special election or municipal primary held prior to April 20, 2021 to vote using an absentee ballot, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason. 

Vaccine Information

The following is the status of vaccinations for Connecticut as of today:

• First doses administered: 358,019
• Second doses administered: 101,238
• Total doses administered: 459,257

We are still waiting for an announcement from the Governor as to when those aged 65 and up will become eligible.  Residents can’t pre-register for the vaccine, but they can familiarize themselves with the options available to receive the vaccine.  Information is available on the Town’s Coronavirus page on the Town’s website.  Click on the red banner on the homepage or click here.  The number of local pharmacies offering the vaccine locally continues to increase. 

Case Data

Today, Wilton and all but eight small municipalities remain red alert communities based on their 14-day daily average new cases per 100,000 residents.  The following chart includes the weekly averages for Wilton and area communities.  Wilton’s most recent average continued to reflect the WHS outbreak.

As shared in Tuesday’s update, due to mitigation strategies adopted by the schools, they have been able to continue to offer in-person learning despite the recent 14-day averages. Today, Wilton’s Health Director provided Dr. Smith with his support of the WPS’s Plan to move all grades at Middlebrook to 4-day in-person learning, conditional on additional mitigation strategies, including surveillance testing, written commitments from parents to report familial positive cases/exposure and staff maintaining and/or increasing their vigilance and enforcement of mask wearing and social distancing within their classes.  Additional mitigation strategies were required for the reasons discussed by the Health Director in his responses to BOE member questions, also shared in Tuesday’s update. 

The following is data, as of 8:30 p.m. last night, from today’s CT DPH report versus yesterday’s February 3^rdreport.  

• Wilton:  7 new cases reported. 848 cases pandemic-to-day (PTD). A more reasonable 1% of the 683 new tests reported were positive. We continue to wait for the details behind the almost 20 new cases reported on Tuesday, but not yet received for contact tracing.  
• Statewide:  937 new cases.  3.14% of the 29,864 new tests reported were positive.  257,941 cases PTD.  
• Fairfield County:  271 new cases.  74.033 cases PTD.
• Hospitalized Patients:  Statewide, 837 with a 37-net patient decrease. Fairfield County, 203 with an 11-net patient decrease.
• Deaths:  Statewide, 7,185 with 28 new deaths.  Fairfield County, 1,946 with 3 new deaths.  Wilton, 47, no new deaths.  

The following chart shows the distribution of known cases by age for previous periods and the current 7-day period.

Please practice the 5 W’s and behave as if you have the virus and as if those around you do as well.

5 W’s

• Watch your distance
• Wear a mask/face covering when you can’t maintain 6 feet of distance whether indoors or outside
• Walk, run or bike to the right in single file when passing another person on the NRVT, sidewalks and trails
• Wait to host indoor gatherings
• Wash your hands

If you have a question, please email me at lynne.vanderslice@wiltonct.org

Lynne Vanderslice

First Selectwoman