A Hamden resident has tested positive for COVID-19, Hamden Fire Chief Gary Merwede confirmed on Monday.
Merwede said the town does not release any patient information, and did not say how old the patient is or how they contracted the virus.
“I will confirm we have a COVID positive patient recovering at home under a physician’s direction and appropriate notification to the QVHD” (Quinnipiac Valley Health District), he wrote in an email to the Independent Monday afternoon. “We will have many more.”
The case was first reported in the state’s COVID-19 Sunday update, meaning the test results came back either on Saturday or by 10 a.m. on Sunday.
“Most patients without serious symptoms will be able to manage their own care at home, this is all part of the plan to flatten the curve and prioritize hospital beds for the most serious cases,” Merwede wrote.
“We have been functioning in Hamden under the presumption COVID-19 was in our community, as advised by State Health Officials since the beginning,” Mayor Curt Leng wrote in a statement. “Our residents need to fully understand something very important,” the statement continued. “We have more than one person in Hamden with coronavirus. State officials stated last week we should assume for every one positive case, there are 100 additional people who have the virus and are in your community but just have not been tested.”
He reiterated a plea that residents stay home and away from other people unless absolutely necessary. “Now that we know this, I’m further begging residents of all ages to take this very seriously. Your actions, your personal decisions, with protect the very lives of your family members, your parents and grandparents and the parents and grandparents of your friends and neighbors. You have the personal power and the personal responsibility to save lives.”
