Municipalities on COVID-19 ‘red alert’ list resist reopening rollback, as some shift to remote classes

Leaders in Connecticut’s COVID-19 “hot-spots” say they are reluctant to roll back the reopening of local businesses, instead emphasizing the importance of masks and social distancing and weighing changes to K-12 classes.

“I tend to be of the view that this is best done on a regional basis at minimum — statewide basis is best,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said. “That said, I appreciate having the local authority to make that shift, and we’ll continue to look at it.”

Last Thursday the state designated 11 municipalities — Hartford, Danbury, Norwich, New London, Canterbury, East Lyme, Griswold, Montville, Preston, Sprague, Windham — as “red-alert” areas because of the high number of daily positive COVID-19 cases. Under a recent executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont, those cities and towns now have discretion to roll back from Phase 3 of reopening to Phase 2.

Additionally, the state recommends red-alert municipalities cancel public events and encourage widespread testing and that residents limit trips out of their homes.

Statewide, Connecticut has now recorded a positivity rate of 1.7% over the past week, higher than over any previous seven-day stretch since mid-June.

Bronin said he hopes the alert will help combat fatigue with social distancing rules, which officials have blamed for rising numbers across the state.

1/4 u2033To the extent that this alert highlights the importance of continued vigilance, we welcome it,” Bronin said. “We want to make sure people know this is not a time to let down your guard.”

So far, however, most towns and cities appear reluctant to roll back reopening, which would mean increased restrictions on restaurants, libraries, hair salons, performance venues and more.

“We’re not rolling back ... [but] we did consider it,” New London Mayor Michael Passero said. “Frankly, the institutions, the businesses, the gathering places that are affected by Phase 3 are not the places that the contact tracers are telling us the community spread is occurring at. So we didn’t see any benefit.”

Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel similarly said the town would not return to Phase 2 and would instead simply continue to encourage safety measures.

“We do not have any contact tracing data that would point to specific sources of the uptick, so I think we can assume that it is a general letting of our collective guard down,” McDaniel said in an email. “I have always and continue to urge everyone to be vigilant about wearing proper face protection, maintaining sufficient social distancing and being diligent with personal hygiene like proper hand washing.”

Cheryl Blanchard, first selectman of Sprage, said the town had “not taken any steps or made any changes” in response to the red-alert designation. In East Lyme, First Selectman Mark Nickerson said the town would merely continue “encouraging people to wear masks, avoid large crowds and even small gatherings, and to social distance.”

Bronin and Passero both said they wondered how effective rolling back reopening would be when residents could simply cross town borders to a municipality with different rules.

“Even if rolling back to Phase 2 might be effective tool, it would not be effective applied to ... a small geographic area,” Passero said. “Because a virus doesn’t respect a political boundary.”

In Hartford, Bronin emphasized Hartford’s widespread COVID-19 testing, noting that the city had conducted more tests than any other in Connecticut. Along Park Street, community health workers spent Friday morning distributing flyers to publicize a free COVID-19 testing event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Faith Temple on Broad Street.

The health workers said they’d received warm response from most people they’d met and observed plenty of interest in the event, which also promises free masks, school supplies, smart thermometers and voter registration.

“I was here yesterday, and because it was rush hour people were quick to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with no small talk,” Oscar Cortez, one of the community health workers, said Friday. “Today, since it’s in the morning, it’s a little more lax. People will ask questions. It’s been pretty good.”

Windham, Griswold in remote learning

At least four of the 11 communities on the “red-alert” list — Danbury, Norwich Windham and Griswold — are shifting to hold all K-12 classes remotely, while most others will continue to use a mix of in-person and online instruction.

Hartford schools spokesperson John Fergus said the district will announce Monday whether students will shift to a hybrid model from a full in-person model. Bronin said earlier in October such a change was “likely,” given the sustained increase in local COVID-19 cases.

In Windham, Superintendent Tracy Youngberg announced in a letter to families Friday that students will shift from a hybrid to a full remote-learning model from Oct. 19-Oct. 30.

“I know that this shift in our school schedule presents a challenge for many families,” she wrote. “However, yesterday afternoon Governor Lamont identified Windham as one of the eleven communities that is in the “red” based on the increasing number of COVID-19 cases within the town.”

Youngberg said while the district has “overwhelming evidence that COVID-19 is not being spread within our school buildings, the recent spike in town cases has exhibited a negative impact on student and staff attendance, caused elevated anxiety levels, and is dominating our district’s day-to-day operations.”

School administrators, along with the state department of education and the local health district, plan to review the town’s health data on Oct. 29 to determine next steps.

“Ultimately, we remain focused on the state’s goal of getting the district back to a Full In-Person Learning experience once the health data suggests it is safe to do so,” Youngberg said.

Griswold, meanwhile, will continue operating on a fully remote model through Oct. 23, Superintendent Sean McKenna confirmed Friday. McKenna announced the shift to full remote learning Tuesday, after school administrators learned of three positive COVID-19 cases within the school community.

“Please know that there is no evidence, at this time, of school building transmission,” McKenna wrote in a letter to families. “However, recent data on Griswold community transmission rates, and, by association, the rising rates in New London County, have factored into our decision.”

McKenna said the district hopes to resume hybrid learning Oct. 26.

While Windham, Griswold, Norwich (which shifted to remote learning earlier this month) and Danbury (which has held classes remotely all semester) keep kids home, other districts will hold steady with in-person instruction. Canterbury Superintendent Steven Rioux told families in a Thursday evening update the district plans to continue with full in-person education “as long as we can.”

“There is no substitution to direct instruction and the benefits of consistent routines,” he said. “However, there may be a time when we need to revert to a hybrid learning model or a full-remote learning model.”

Montville and Preston, meanwhile, each plan to stick with the hybrid models they have used so far this semester.

“Our hybrid meeting model seems to be working and we have made some technology upgrades to make it more public-friendly,” McDaniel said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our strategies as necessary in consultation with our local health district and state public health officials.”

Courant staff writer Emily Brindley contributed to this report.

Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com. Amanda Blanco can be reached at ablanco@courant.com.

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