CT Enters A Season Of New Hope With Vaccine Rollout, Cash Influx

CONNECTICUT — The sociologists, anthropologists and comparative mythologists all agree that the reason we humans cluster our brightest holidays into the last weeks of December is to hedge the growing darkness. As the days get shorter, and the nights longer, we need to see a spark, some glimmer of light as a sign that the worst is behind us.

Here at the end of 2020, we could use a bonfire. And in the final weeks of this most awful year, we may have gotten just what we needed.

The coronavirus vaccine has made its way into the arms of many of the state's health care workers and elderly with a speed and effort that is being compared to the first moon landing. This week, Connecticut health care professionals called Operation Warp Speed one of the "most prodigious moments in modern medical history."

Hartford Healthcare vaccinated the first members of its staff with the vaccine Monday morning, just nine months and one day after Hartford Hospital admitted its first COVID-19 patient.

The group included doctors, nurses, food service workers, respiratory therapists, janitorial staff and others who are most likely to come into direct contact with coronavirus patients. On Friday, the vaccine express pulled into nursing homes and elder care facilities.

Gov. Ned Lamont anticipates getting 129,000 vaccine doses by the end of next week and 500,000 by the end of January. An emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was issued late Friday for Moderna's vaccine. Both vaccines require two doses. The current timeline projects 1 million people being vaccinated with both doses by the end of March. Although he has often been critical of the support that his state has gotten from the federal government throughout the pandemic, Lamont had nothing but praise for its efforts in the vaccine development and rollout.

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What effect will the new medicine have on those daily coronavirus charts and graphs with which we've all become so familiar? Experts predict that the first stat we'll see drop is the number of deaths. That will be followed by hospitalizations and eventually the infection rate will tumble as more people are vaccinated.

Here's a snapshot of those trends in Connecticut since the start of the pandemic through Friday:

Success is predicated on a large percent of the population being vaccinated, and the population achieving herd immunity. That is, so many people become immune that the spread of the disease from person to person becomes unlikely. Health officials are hoping that occurs by late summer or the early fall of 2021.

A report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, published on Dec. 6 but only just made available, noted that the country won't see a significant improvement in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths until around 100 million people are vaccinated. That's the number of people with comorbidities that place them at increased risk for serious complications.

The Task Force Report, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, commended Lamont's communication and messaging throughout the pandemic. It also noted the drop of Connecticut down to 29th in the country for new COVID-19 cases per capita between Nov. 28 and Dec. 4 with 424 weekly cases per 100,000 residents.

Around 65 percent of respondents to a Hartford HealthCare survey said that they would get the vaccine as soon as it was available. That number's in line with the results from Patch's own informal readers survey on the topic. But it's 20 points higher than the sentiment of people around the country, where surveys have found that around 45 percent of people said they would get the vaccine right away if available, according to Hartford HealthCare. More people who were surveyed said they would be comfortable a month or so after the vaccine was released.

As hopeful as the vaccine rollout made them, state officials expressed concern this week about coronavirus case rates getting worse before they got better. They warned residents not to make the mistakes of Thanksgiving when increased, large family gatherings led to a spike in coronavirus hospitalizations. On Thursday, Lamont strongly encouraged state residents to celebrate the holidays only with members of their immediate household in-person and to celebrate with others virtually.

If the successful vaccine rollout didn't put a smile on your face, maybe a couple of extra dollars in your pocket will. All signs indicate multiple financial relief packages will be made available to Connecticut residents in the next few weeks.

The state government began disbursing ten thousand $5,000 grants to small businesses last week, and promised an even more ambitious small grant program that would begin hitting mailboxes next week. That funding would not be enough to "take care of everybody," but is targeted for businesses "like restaurants, who are really struggling," Lamont said Wednesday.

On Friday, Lamont announced that he would extend the state's eviction moratorium from Jan. 1 to Feb. 9. Earlier in the week, the governor said the state was also working on a rent relief program, for landlords as well as tenants, but urged interested parties to act quickly as the federal funds for that would likely dry up on Dec. 31.

Not to be outdone by the Democrats, state House Republicans announced Wednesday they will introduce legislation to help the state's bars and restaurants recover during the coronavirus pandemic. They are proposing a $50 million targeted pandemic relief grant fund for those with qualifying monetary losses, as well as a year-long suspension of liquor permitting fees, and food licensing fees for certain restaurants

Not to be outdone by the Nutmeg State, the federal government began making all the right noises this week about its long-delayed $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package. For much of this week, members of Congress worked through the last remaining holdups on the program that would bring billions of dollars to small businesses, extended federal and state unemployment benefits, direct payments to Americans, and additional funds to renters and people needing food aid.

It's even gotten a little easier to get in and out of the state. Lamont signed a new executive order Friday that amends the state's coronavirus travel restrictions. Although the Department of Health is no longer cherry-picking the restricted regions, travelers who have recently tested negative for the virus, or who have tested positive and recovered now receive a Get Out of Quarantine Free Card.

If a moon landing-level vaccine rollout and free money from the government can't inspire a glimmer of hope after this darkest of years, then try this: Remember that famous "star of wonder, star of might," the one the Bible says guided those three kings and "certain shepherds" to the very first Christmas?

It's back.

Just when you needed it most, Jupiter and Saturn will line up perfectly to create the illusion of a "Christmas star" on the night of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. The last time those planets were this close together was in 1623. It's been nearly 800 years since the alignment occurred at night, and the two planets won't be this cozy again until March 15, 2080.

So whether you are looking to your leaders or just counting your lucky stars, every indicator after the week just passed points toward brighter days ahead in Connecticut.

We can only hope.

See also:

Winter Solstice 'Christmas Star': When To Look Up In Connecticut

Such a close conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn hasn’t occurred since 1623. The Ursid meteor shower peak coincides with the winter solstice.>>>Read More.

This article originally appeared on the Across Connecticut Patch