Covid Updates: Mass Home-Test Distribution Planned; 585 School Staff Out; ​“Not Yet At Peak”

The city plans to give out roughly 8,000 at-home Covid-19 testing kits to New Haven residents only at two mass distribution sites on Thursday — as the Omciron variant continues to knock teachers, police officers, firefighters, and school bus drivers out of work.

Mayor Justin Elicker offered that update Wednesday during a Covid-focused press conference held outside the back entrance to City Hall.

Joined by schools Supt. Iline Tracey, Fire Chief John Alston, and Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez, Elicker underscored just how hard the city and the state are being hit by the highly contagious, but less deadly for the vaccinated, Omicron variant.

“We’re continuing to see cases go up,” he said. ​“We think that we’re not yet at the peak.”

“Make no mistake: This is a public health emergency,” said Alston. ​“We’re not at the top of it yet.”

“This has been the mother of all weeks,” added Tracey. ​“We have never seen anything like this, where we have so many staff absences.”

According to Gov. Ned Lamont’s latest daily Covid-update press release, Connecticut saw a test positivity rate of 22.6 percent Wednesday. 

It also saw Covid-patient hospitalizations increase by 114, to a total of 1,676 across Connecticut. Of those 1,676 Covid-positive hospitalized patients, 1,228 — or 67.3 percent — are not fully vaccinated.

During her time at the mic, city Health Director Maritza Bond implored the public to get vaccinated. ​“It is critical to get your child vaccinated,” she said. ​“We can avoid hospitalizations and ICUs [intensive care units] if we’re vaccinated.” 

She stressed that vaccines are the best and safest way to mitigate the severity of illness and to keep people out of the hospital if they have Covid.

“We know that vaccinations work,” she said. Her message to the public: ​“Get vaccinated or get boosted,” if you’re eligible.

Mass Distribution Of Testing Kits, Masks Slated For Thursday

To try to meet some of the surging demand for Covid-19 tests among people who need to know if they have Covid and therefore have to stay home from work and isolate for 5 days, Elicker and city Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana said the city will be hosting mass distributions of at-home testing kits and N95 masks at two different sites on Thursday.

The first site is Sports Haven at 600 Long Wharf Dr. That mass distribution site will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The second site is the New Haven Green. That mass distribution site will be open from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Fontana said that the city will be distributing roughly 8,000 iHealth at-home Covid testing kits in total across those two mass distribution sites. Each kits contains two rapid Covid tests.

These two sites — at Sports Haven and on the Green — will be open to New Haven residents only. Elicker said that people who show up will have to provide some proof of residency, like an ID or a utility bill.

Elicker said that the mass distribution site on the Green is ​“walk-up only,” while the Sports Haven site is for people with cars.

“The most important part is to be patient,” Fontana said. ​“There will be lines.” There will also be a ​“public safety team” at each site to keep things orderly. 

“When supplies run out, it will end,” Fontana continued. ​“Please be patient. Please expect to wait in line.”

He added that that the city has received a total of 17,700 at-home testing kits from the state so far. It has distributed nearly 9,000 — including at this Monday distribution event to city essential workers, alders, and nonprofits who work with vulnerable populations.

“Effective immediately,” Bond stated, the WREN lab saliva Covid testing site on the Green will be open to New Haven residents only. The WREN lab salivta test site at 60 Sargent Dr. will remain open to anyone on a first come, first served basis.

Schools: 585 Staff Out, Only 13,000 Students Present

Most of the rest of the press conference was dedicated to just how many essential city workers — teachers, police officers, and firefighters — have had to miss work this week because of a positive Covid test or a known exposure to someone who has Covid.

Tracey said that on Wednesday, NHPS saw 585 staff absences. With the help of central office administrators and other subs filling in for teachers who couldn’t show up, Tracey said, the school system was still able to provide classes in person.

She reported that 52 school bus drivers were out on Wednesday because of Covid or exposure to Covid. That’s down from 62 bus driver absences on Tuesday.

And she said that only around 13,000 NHPS students showed up to school in person on Tuesday. That’s out of a total public school student body of around 20,000. Tracey said NHPS is trying to figure out now where those students are and why they are absent: whether because of a positive Covid test, or because parents are keeping kids home out of a concern about the safety of classrooms, or for some other reasons.

As of right now, Tracey said, NHPS is not planning to move classes online or to delay in-person instruction.

She did note that the public schools will be closed on Thursday for Three Kings Day, and may be closed on Friday for a snow day, depending on the weather.

“I’m hoping for an accumulation” of snow, Tracey said, eyeing the wintry forecast. ​“It’s the first time I’ve ever hoped for an accumulation to close school down,” thanks to all of the Covid-induced staff shortages.

Elicker and Tracey also said that NHPS will start proving at-home Covid test kits to children and families of children who have symptoms or a known exposure. School principals will be managing communication with families about that at-home test kit distribution to students.

Tracey was asked how the schools will ensure that a student who has tested positive at home doesn’t show up to school and risk infecting other students and staff.

“Currently, it’s the honor system,” Tracey said.

“We’ve got to trust families,” Elicker added. ​“It’s our social contract to protect everyone. We all want our kids to be safe. We’ve got to expect other families” to do the right thing and, if their kid is sick, not to send them back to school.

Police, Fire: Covid Up, Service Maintained

Alston and Dominguez said that the fire and police departments have also seen a sharp increase in Covid-induced work absences during the current Omicron surge.

Alston said that 38 firefighters are currently out because of a positive Covid test or known exposure. 

That’s roughly 12.6 percent of the department. Fortunately, he said, that number is quite a bit lower than the 61 firefighters — or over 20 percent of the department — who were out of work for Covid-related reasons on Tuesday morning.

Thanks to firefighters working extra shifts, he said, ​“no service has been impacted.”

“For the police department, we’re seeing the same kind of spike,” Dominguez said.

Currently, she said, 48 sworn city police officers are out — with 44 having tested positive for Covid, and the other four having a known exposure and awaiting test results. That’s roughly 14 percent of the police department’s total sworn force.

On Saturday alone, Dominguez added, the police department saw 14 officers test positive for Covid — the highest number of positive tests to come back on a single day so far during the pandemic.

“It has not impacted our services right now,” Dominguez said. As the department has held over officers to work extra shifts, ​“we’ve been able to maintain” service.

Asked about the respective vaccination rates in each of their departments, Alston said that 77 percent of the fire department is vaccinated, and Dominguez said that 66 percent of the police department is vaccinated.

Elicker noted that those numbers do not include boosters. The mayor said earlier this week that he plans on rolling out a city-staff booster requirement soon.

Click here to watch the press conference in full.