Thomas Breen photo
Fair Haven Health’s Dr. Lagarde vaccinates school social worker Stephanie Willis.
Fully vaccinated New Haveners should feel comfortable ditching their masks as they gather indoors with no more than one unvaccinated household at a time — while all New Haveners should continue to wear face coverings and keep six-foot social distances while out in public, even as the state’s business-reopening restrictions loosen.
City Health Director Maritza Bond and Mayor Justin Elicker delivered those messages Monday afternoon during the mayor’s latest Covid-19-related press briefing, held online via Zoom and YouTube Live.
The virtual presser took place just after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released highly-anticipated safety guidelines on what fully vaccinated people should feel comfortable doing, and should continue to avoid doing, two weeks after getting their final doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
That guidance permits gathering indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing masks. It endorses gathering indoors with unvaccinated people from no more than one other household without wearing masks.
The online press conference also took place several days after Gov. Ned Lamont announced that, starting Friday, March 19, the state will no longer limit capacity at stores, libraries, gyms, museums, offices or houses of worship. The state will continue to require people to wear face coverings and maintain social distances of six feet or more, and will maintain an 11 p.m. closing time at restaurants.
Zoom
Elicker and Bond (pictured) endorsed both federal and state pandemic-related updates — and encouraged New Haveners to maintain their public health vigilance as the Covid-19 pandemic passes the one-year mark in the Elm City.
“We don’t want people, given the opening-up changes by the governor’s office, to feel like it’s time yet to celebrate,” Elicker said. “We’re not out of the woods yet. We have a long way to go.” Thus the importance of social distancing, mask wearing, and being “very, very cautious,” even with most business capacity restrictions soon-to-be lifted.
Bond said she is “pleased” to see the CDC’s new guidelines for fully vaccinated people. “I think it’s giving a lot of us hope that we can visit our loved ones,” especially for fully vaccinated grandparents who haven’t been able to see their children and grandchildren in over a year.”
“Although the guidance did get issued, it’s important that we understand what these guidances mean. We do not want to send mixed messages,” particularly for what unvaccinated people should and shouldn’t feel safe doing.
Bond also encouraged those who have been vaccinated to carry around their vaccination cards with them, particularly if they plan on traveling out of the city and out of the state. “It is important for individuals to carry that certification with them so, if asked, you can show evidence of that, especially if you’re going to be traveling to see family members.”
Elicker (pictured) said that, since the start of the pandemic, New Haven has seen a total of 11,573 positive Covid cases and 184 related fatalities. Bond said that the city Health Department has vaccinated a total of 9,700 residents. That includes those who have received first doses as well as those who have gotten first and second doses.
How Many Teachers Have Been Vaccinated? Not So Clear
When asked how many New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) teachers have been vaccinated so far, the mayor responded, “We are not allowed to track that.”
The city and the school system can send out surveys to staff asking about vaccination levels, he said. But, because of HIPPA privacy restrictions, “we’re not allowed to track individuals and how they’ve been vaccinated” — that includes teachers.
He and NHPS Asst. Superintendent Paul Whyte (pictured above) said that the school system has identified roughly 3,500 school staff — including teachers, bus drivers, and afterschool program workers — to encourage to get vaccinated.
Elicker also noted that Fair Haven Community Health Care is vaccinating roughly 300 people per day at its Wilbur Cross High School clinic, which opened last Wednesday. “The vast majority of individuals vaccinated [during the first few days of operations] were school staff,” Elicker said. NHPS also hosted 14 school-based vaccination clinics with school nurses, teachers, and school staff last week.
When asked why NHPS plans to reopen high schools for hybrid, in-person learning for the first time in over a year starting April 5, Whyte said, “We’ve always wanted to have our kids back.” The school system brought back PreK-5th grade students in January, and middle school students last week.
“We wanted to have the high schoolers have an experience there as well,” he said.
“We are really pleased with the reopening” since PreK through 5th grade students started coming back to in-person classes in January, Bond added. She said that the city and the school system have been “very successful in ensuring” contact tracing takes place when students or staff come down with Covid, and with ensuring there are nurses available in reopened schools.
Remember that even though the capacity limits have ended, the six feet distancing is not lifted, so in all venues the six feet apart requirement sets the capacity limits. So smaller venues may still need to limit capacity to keep customers six feet apart.