Maya McFadden Photo
Pine Rock Park on Monday.
A little over a week after Hamden announced its first confirmed Covid-19 patient, the town had 29 confirmed cases Monday afternoon, with one resident of a nursing home testing positive.
In a 90-minute Facebook live “town hall” late Sunday evening, Mayor Curt Leng announced that 25 residents had tested positive for the new coronavirus. Monday afternoon, he posted on Facebook saying that the number had since reached 29.
Leng also said that one resident of a nursing home in the town has tested positive. Fire Chief Gary Merwede, who is the town’s director of emergency management, said the town cannot give the name of the nursing home.
Leng said that the actual number of cases in Hamden is likely much higher — even as much as 100 – 200 times higher — than the number that have tested positive. With 25 positive tests when he did the video, that could mean as many as 2,500 to 5,000 people in Hamden have been infected with the virus and don’t know.
Over the weekend, Leng issued an executive order prohibiting people from congregating on any town properties, including parks, trails, fields, and courts. The order also requires that people maintain six feet from other people on those town properties.
Leng said he thinks the state should issue a shelter-in-place order. “I wish we had a rule right now that directed shelter in place,” he said in his Facebook town hall.
In an email to the Independent, he said a shelter-in-place order would require that people stay home “for anything other than getting groceries and going to the pharmacy.” In his town hall, he said people would still be able to go outside and go for walks, as long as they adhere strictly to the six-foot rule and don’t gather with other people.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s Executive Order 7H, which he issued on March 20, required that towns follow the lead of the state and not implement any orders that contradict state orders on the virus. That means Leng can’t issue his own shelter-in-place order.
Leng stressed that Hamden’s parks are still open, and he encouraged people to use them. However, they must do so in an appropriate way if the town is going to keep them open.
“The only way I can keep the parks open in a good conscience is if everyone is doing social distancing,” he said.
In his town hall, Leng also gave a number of other updates:
• The town and Quinnipiac University reached an agreement to let Hamden first responders stay in Quinnipiac dorms if they have been exposed to the virus. In a press release Monday morning, university spokesperson John Morgan announced that the university will provide 50 apartments for first responders in the university’s Whitney Village. The University of New Haven, and then Yale, both agreed to do the same for New Haven.
• The town has added a feature to its SeeClickFix app that allows residents to report when they see people gathering in groups. You can click a button and point to where people are gathering to report it to the town. Police will disperse people.
• The town is installing drop boxes outside of the government center so residents can drop off important documents for town staff to process while town buildings remain closed to the public. There will be boxes for taxes, the town’s clerk’s office, the registrar’s office, and for commissions. Leng said staff will check them multiple times a day.
Thank you to the universities that have agreed to house first responders and medical personnel who have been exposed to the virus or are infected with the virus, so that they can have the comfort of being quarantined and self isolated and not exposing their loved ones during this time.