Firefighters, cops, and teachers continued to scramble to fill gaps and keep government working Tuesday as the state’s Covid-19 infection rate hit 23.85 percent and the number of hospitalized patients in Greater New Haven soared to 539 amid the spread of the Omicron variant.
Meanwhile, Yale announced a quarantine through at least Feb. 7 for students returning to campus this month: “Avoid local businesses, restaurants, and bars including outdoor drinking or dining,” Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd wrote in an email to all students. “Feel free to order curbside pickup, or take walks or runs off campus.
About 17 percent of the New Haven Fire Department is currently out because they tested positive or are quarantining while awaiting results, according to mayoral spokesperson Kyle Buda. He said that “through a combination of overtime and extended shifts, they were able to achieve no lapse of service.”
He also said that 15 percent of the police department is currently out because of positive tests or quarantine.
New Haven and Hamden schools continued operating amid staff shortages, with no plans to slow down.
All of New Haven’s schools will remain open on Wednesday, according to district spokesperson Justin Harmon. He said 343 teachers, 71 administrators, 71 paraprofessionals, and 76 other staffers were out on Tuesday.
“We continue to manage with substitutes and administrators filling in,” Harmon reported. “We are holding our own on bus drivers so far; we gained a few and lost a few, and we continue to draw on neighboring districts for extra drivers. The longest waits so far today have been 40 minutes.”
Because of the driver shortage, high schools are closing an hour early the rest of the week, the district announced.
In Hamden, the high school was closed Tuesday because of staff shortages, but may reopen Wednesday, according to Superintendent Jody Goeler. He generally makes that call around 5 a.m., based on expected shortages. Hamden’s middle school reopened Tuesday after having shut down Monday.
Hamden had 56 absent teachers, five administrators, 17 paraprofessionals out Tuesday, Goeler said; 681 out of 3,532 students were absent. Eli Whitney Technical High School remains closed through Wednesday. All other schools are expected to remain open.
Nationally, hundreds of thousands of students went back to remote learning this week amid the surge of the Omicron variant, including in Newark, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Some Connecticut districts, including Ansonia, have followed suit, but mostly Connecticut is working to keep schools open, even as the daily infection rate neared 24 percent: Click here to read a report about that by CT News Junkie’s Hugh McQuaid.
Nora Grace-Flood, Tom Breen, and Paul Bass contributed reporting.
Blue Lives Matter should host a vaccination drive where they listen and educate police officers on the benefits of vaccination if they really care about the lives of cops.