Coronavirus Update-School Closings, Cases, Tri-Board, Unemployment Claims & More

April 9^th – Today, the Governor announced school closings were extended until May 20^th.  Earlier tonight, on a call with statewide leaders, he stated he did not anticipate they would open on May 20^th and promised another update in early May.  The Governor also added it would be hopeful to think schools would reopen this academic year. 

Connecticut has one of the highest, if not the highest, hospitalization rates per capita in the country. Today the Governor shared there have been approximately 3,000 admissions and 1,250 discharges. Today’s hospitalizations were reported as 1,464, with Fairfield County at 664 or one hospitalization less than yesterday.  I caution against making any assumptions based on one day.  The average daily growth in new cases continues to be high within Southern Connecticut, as demonstrated in the chart below, which shows the average daily growth during the five days, April 1 to April 5^th and the average daily growth during the four days, April 6^th through today.  Wilton, which began the month with an average 10% daily growth dropped to a 6% average daily growth.  Hopefully this trend remains as a result of our actions. Stamford, on the other hand, increased from 13% to 18%, as their cases per capita are rapidly approaching 1%. Testing for each municipality would be helpful in understanding the numbers, but unfortunately, the data isn’t available.

Please continue to stay at home as much as possible, practice social distancing and behave as if you have the virus and as if those around you do as well.

Earlier this evening, a tri-board meeting was held by the Board of Selectmen (BOS), Board of Finance (BOF) and Board of Education (BOE).  Residents can feel confident knowing the three boards are communicating and collaborating.  The consensus was that it is premature to make decisions about the FY2021 budget.  The BOF, which is responsible for setting the budget and the mill rate, expects to settle on a preliminary budget and mill rate at their May 12^th regular meeting.  That proposal would then be made available to the public for comment before their deliberations, which are expected to occur during the first week in June.  In the meantime, the BOS and BOE will reconsider their submitted budgets and the BOF will provide the two boards with feedback by May 1^st.  We will likely have one or more tri-board meetings before June.  

Please do not hesitate to contact the BOF or all three boards before mid-May.  We are anxious to understand the impact on residents.  We had hoped the State would provide weekly unemployment claims by municipality, but today we learned they could not do so.  The email addresses for the three boards are:  boardofselectmen@wiltonct.org,  boardoffinance@wiltonct.org and boe@wiltonps.org

For those who have experienced a job loss, the Department of Labor has received more than 18 months of claims in 3 weeks. Outside support has been added and staff has been redeployed, but there is a 5 to 6-week backlog to work through. Unfortunately, the computer systems are old, running on a 40-year old mainframe and need to be reprogrammed to accommodate the new Federal CARES Act.  Not helpful if you are waiting for your claim to process, but at least it provides an understanding of the delays. A modernization of the system is a year away and has been put on hold to allow for the required reprogramming. 

Today, CT DPH reports 9,784 laboratory-confirmed statewide cases with 4,882 or 50 % in Fairfield County and 90 in Wilton. Yesterday’s drop in the Fairfield County share of cases was short lived.  Sadly, deaths have risen to 380. Approximately 4% of total reported cases have not yet been assigned to a municipality.  The number of cases requiring hospitalization increased to 1,464 with 664 in Fairfield County.  

If you have received a confirmed or presumptive positive test and you have not been contacted by the Wilton Health Department, please contact the department. Department members are out in the field, so they can be reached more quickly through email.  

Earlier today, the Governor issued Executive Order 7W.  

Please remember the Transfer Station is not open on Fridays and is closed this Saturday for the holiday weekend.  

As always, if you have any questions, please email the appropriate town department or me.  Email is the preferred means of communication because most employees are working from home.  I have immediate access to my email and try to respond promptly.  If you contact me on Facebook, know that my response will be delayed, as I only check my F S Lynne Vanderslice Facebook account a few times a day. I generally don’t use Messenger and have limited ability to access it.   

Thank you,

Lynne Vanderslice

First Selectwoman

What should you do to stop the spread?

• Stay home.
• Maintain a distance of 6 feet between you and another person.  This standard applies whether inside or outside.
• Respect the Governor’s prohibition on social or recreational gatherings of more than 5 people, including leisure gatherings.
• Consolidate your shopping and errands to minimize the numbers of days you must leave your home.  
• Take advantage of the delivery options offered by many Wilton businesses.
• Practice your team sport on your own, not with your teammates.  The internet is full of videos and suggestions on how to do this. 
• Do walk outside. If your street is walkable, please consider walking there rather than a public trail. When the NRVT parking lot, or that of another trail, is more than 50% full, please find another place to walk.  There are 127 miles of town-owned roads, more than 80 private roads and more than 3 miles of sidewalk on state-owned roads.
• Please respect the town’s closure of fields and recreation facilities.  

Visual of Connecticut Cases by Town