We’re at the point in this pandemic where many of us know at least one person who has tested positive for coronavirus.
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I’ve seen several social media posts from friends who are dealing with, or recovering from, COVID-19.
One of them is Spencer Brill, who lives in the current epicenter of New York City. He spent a week in the hospital and is now recovering at home. “It was a pretty harrowing experience overall. The hospital is a terrifying place to be at this point in time,” he said in a video he posted to Facebook over the weekend.
Brill was in the hospital over two weeks ago and the situation in New York City is even more dire now. There’s even a contingency plan to temporarily bury the dead in city parks because the freezers have filled up.
This week started out with a warning from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who said this week will be, “our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country.” What is happening in New York now could happen across the nation in the coming weeks.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus in Connecticut...
Topline
- Fairfield County has more than half of all confirmed cases of COVID-19. “We’re struggling,” Rep. Jim Himes (CT-4) told Connecticut Public Radio this morning. He said that although nobody is getting turned away from the hospital or being denied a ventilator, “it feels like that could be just over the horizon.”
- More than 100 inmates at an Enfield prison have been transferred to higher-security facilities after a fight broke out on Friday. Officials say tensions were rising over the response to the pandemic.
- Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order that extends a degree of protection to medical workers. In a statement, the governor’s office said the order provides protection “from lawsuits for acts or omissions undertaken in good faith in support of the state’s COVID-19 response.”
By The Numbers
All numbers are as of April 5 at 4 p.m.
- 189 deaths from COVID-19
- 5,675 confirmed cases
- Fairfield County: 3,050
- New Haven County: 1,162
- Hartford County: 751
- Litchfield County: 197
- Middlesex County: 110
- Tolland County: 94
- New London County: 57
- Windham County: 32
- Pending address validation: 222
- More than 23,270 people tested
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The Latest
- Gov. Ned Lamont said he was on the phone with China this morning, trying to get medical supplies to Connecticut. On Connecticut Public Radio’s Where We Live, he called the federal government’s approach “discombobulated,” because of the way states are competing with each other for personal protective equipment and ventilators. Listen to the show.
- Tensions have climbed and a fight broke out at a prison in Connecticut because of the state government’s response to the pandemic, which has included a limit on movement and requiring offenders to eat within the housing units. Patrick Skahill reports that, “In response, inmates began threatening hunger strikes and work stoppages to protest the changes. Martucci said DOC staff then began to remove prisoners from housing units.” The next day, a fight broke out and an officer was “deliberately punched in the face.” After the incident, 105 inmates were moved to higher-security facilities around the state.
- Print publications in Connecticut are taking a financial hit, due in part to a dropoff of ad revenue. The Hartford Business Journal is stopping its print issue until at least June 1. It will continue to publish a digital version. Other local papers have also suspended print publications, including The Glastonbury Citizen and Rivereast News Bulletin.
Other Reads On The Coronavirus
- State sees dramatic drop in traffic as residents ‘stay safe, stay home’ - Tom Condon for The CT Mirror
- COVID-19 Should Make Us Rethink Our Destructive Relationship With the Natural World - Jane Goodall for Slate
- Trio dubbed ‘Golden Girls’ become sudden celebrities for their coronavirus isolation plans - Cathy Free for The Washington Post
They Can’t See You, But You Can See The Animals
Connecticut’s zoos and aquariums are closed to the public, but you can still see some of the animals via webcam. Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo has two webcams set up for their red pandas. They’re not always in the picture, but I did catch a squirrel stealing a couple bites of food.
Meanwhile, Mystic Aquarium has penguin cams.
As always, the National Zoo has cameras set up for its panda bears, lions, elephants and … naked mole rats?
Are there any other animal webcams that you’ve been watching recently? I’m off for the next two days, so let me know on Twitter.
Stay safe. Stay sane. Stay distant.
