City Monitors Travelers; Mayor Prescribes Air Hugs

A singer visiting New Haven for a concert is now in self-isolation after alerting public-health authorities that they’d come into contact with someone in London who has coronavirus.

The singer, a member of a Bach Choir that arrived in New Haven on Wednesday for the first performance of a five-city tour, does not have any flu-like symptoms.

City officials made that announcement that in a Friday afternoon press release, about two hours after they held a press conference about New Haven’s latest efforts to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19, as the virus is known, especially with the help of some of the $8.3 billion in newly federal funding available nationwide.

As of now, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Connecticut.

But with colleges about to send students home for spring break, Mayor Justin Elicker said, it’s only a matter of time before New Haven will have to contend with the virus’s spread. (Yale’s Dean advised students to bring home needed items in case their return is delayed. More on that later in this story.)

“We have not had any identified cases of COVID-19 in New Haven,” Elicker said, ​“but we fully expect that we will.”

“That’s not only because the virus is spreading pretty quickly around the nation. But also New Haven, in particular, has a very fluid population,” he said. ​“We have spring break coming up for a number of the universities, and those students, when they come back, will be coming from all parts of the nation and all parts of the world.”

Over roughly the last two months, New Haven has kept tabs on 83 different ​“travelers of interest,” who were all asked to self-isolate for 14 days, said Maritza Bond, the city’s health director. The city didn’t have a number of how many are still being monitored, and how many remain self-isolated.

“We’re just being extra cautious about it,” said Gage Frank, a City Hall spokesperson.

The latest, the Bach Choir member, reported coming into contact with a person who had a confirmed case of coronavirus. Other chorus members also haven’t reported any flu-like symptoms.

Still, the Bach Choir cancelled its entire tour, especially as five coronavirus cases have been confirmed in New York City. It had been planning to perform ​“Belshazzar’s Feast,” a 1930s oratoria about a Babylonian king who literally sees ​“the writing on the wall” about his coming death, after a boozy, blasphemous party.

The singer called the city’s Health Department’s emergency line at (203) 946‑4949 on Thursday to figure out what to do.

Sick? Call

That’s exactly what city officials are asking for others to do if they notice flu-like symptoms after being in close contact with a person who has coronavirus or if they traveled to an area where there’s been an outbreak with ​“community spread.”

They urged people to stay home and call the Health Department, not go to a doctor’s office or a hospital emergency room, where they might risk infecting others.

City officials said people can avoid spreading the virus by washing their hands, not touching their face and ditching handshakes. (Elicker suggested elbow bumps, air high-fives and even air hugs instead.) They’re also recommending people ready for what could be extended stays at home if coronavirus reaches pandemic levels, stocking up now on food, toiletries and medical supplies that could last a month.

Colleges Strategize For Spring Break

As Yale’s spring break starts on Friday, the university has sent all its faculty and students, including those studying abroad, a summary of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s travel notices. It’s asking students who are returning from countries with an elevated risk level — China, Iran, Italy and South Korea, currently — to self-isolate for two weeks.

“We urge you to consider carefully your travel choices and whether it is necessary to travel at this time,” university officials wrote in a Monday message.

A university spokesperson, Karen Peart, said that Yale will rely on guidance from federal, state, and local authorities and from its own faculty and staff experts in deciding whether to institute ​“social distancing,” which usually means closing buildings and cancelling events, or even consider a ​“partial or full closure.”

“Given the fluidity of this situation, we are not operating under a strict ​‘If A, then B’ approach, but will rather monitor developments carefully and take action as new circumstances warrant,” Peart wrote in an email.

Southern Connecticut State University and the University of New Haven are both requiring similar measures, even setting up online classes and independent studies in some cases.

Yale Dean: Bring Stuff Home

Yale College Dean Marvin M. Chun sent students an email message directing them to register their spring break travel plans with the university.

And he prepared them for the possibility of not being able to return to campus.

“[I]f you will be traveling home for spring break, consider bringing any items you will want with you if your return to campus is delayed. (And as you read in yesterday’s message about summer storage, you may want to bring anything home that you no longer plan to use for the rest of the term),” Chun wrote.

Blumenthal Presses Insurers; DeLauro Presses Paid Sick Leave

New Haven’s representatives in Washington, meanwhile, have been focused on making sure the diagnostic test for coronavirus is widely available.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, at the press conference, that the Centers for Disease Control is supposed to release 1 million tests on Friday, after local public health departments have been struggling with capacity.

He said he’ll write a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ask that insurance companies cover the full cost, including copayments and deductibles, for coronavirus diagnostic testing.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro asked HHS to start enrolling uninsured adults in Medicaid ​“during this national public health emergency,” saying that they shouldn’t have to rely on community health centers alone.

She also introduced a bill that would require employers to provide up to 14 days of paid sick leave in a public-health emergency.

“The lack of paid sick days could make coronavirus harder to contain in the United States compared with other countries that have universal sick leave policies in place,” DeLauro said. ​“No one should face the impossible choice of caring for their health or keeping their paycheck or job, especially when a sudden public health crisis occurs. But millions of hard-working people must make this decision every time they get sick or a family member needs care.”