COVID-19: Where we’ve come from, and where we stand now

The Northwest Corner, though less impacted by the pandemic than some of the state’s more urban areas, has weathered its share of ups and downs this year.  Lives and jobs were lost. Lockdowns and closures hurt businesses, towns and schools. Events were canceled, illness and isolation separated friends and families. 

A vaccine, and a new year, are on the horizon. Still, the positive test rates continue to rise. About 1,000 residents spent Thanksgiving hospitalized statewide suffering from the novel coronavirus.

Although the controversial COVID-19 recovery center that was set up in the spring at Sharon Health Care Center will not be reopening despite this latest wave of the virus, the state has ordered four other facilities, including ones in Torrington, to begin accepting COVID-19 patients.

There are some bright spots: A major manufacturer in the Northwest Corner has emerged as a key contributor to the war on COVID-19.  Becton Dickinson and Company (BD), a global provider of medical devices with a manufacturing plant in North Canaan, was granted approval in April for a new rapid test that enabled U.S. hospitals to screen for the virus — and get results in under three hours.

In August, BD announced its contribution to the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, known as Operation Warp Speed, by making available hundreds of millions of syringes to be used to distribute a vaccine to Americans as soon as it becomes available.

Tumultuous 2020 not over yet

On March 22, the first reported coronavirus case in The Lakeville Journal coverage area involved a 57-year-old woman who was a long-term care resident of Sharon Health Care Center, a nursing home operated by Athena Health Care Systems. Three days later, three people in Kent, Sharon and Salisbury tested positive for COVID-19.

By the middle of October, new COVID-19 “clusters” began to emerge in the region. Geer Village in North Canaan, which had gone through spring and summer without a single case on campus, was the hardest hit. The virus sickened 35 residents and 15 staff, and six residents died.

Also in October, cases among students, teachers and within the school community were reported by the private Hotchkiss School in Lakeville and in the Region One School District (where two new cases were reported this week, see story on Page A1).

By early November, North Canaan became a “red alert” community on the state’s tracking map of towns and cities with high COVID-19 infections, due mostly to the outbreak at Geer Village. Within weeks, six area towns were among the 150 communities statewide designated as red zones, including, in addition to North Canaan, Kent, Salisbury, Goshen, Torrington and Winsted. 

As of Nov. 19, about 96% of residents in Connecticut were under red alert. Connecticut has now topped 100,000 cases.

Geer Village ‘cleared’; one case at Noble

The COVID-19 outbreak that hit Geer Village in October has subsided. The day after Thanksgiving the North Canaan senior community sent this announcement: “We are grateful that this week we have met the guidelines to be cleared of our COVID-19 outbreak at the Lodge, according to the State of Connecticut epidemiologist. We have successfully tested negative for greater than 14 days within our resident population.”

Geer administration further noted that as the virus is “still very prevalent in our communities, we remain hyper-vigilant in our screening of all staff and use of personal protective equipment. It would not be unexpected to periodically have staff test positive. The goal is to make sure our screening and PPE use inhibit future resident cases. We will continue to test both residents and staff weekly.”

One day later, on Saturday, Nov. 28, Bill Pond, administrator at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, reported that one staff member was recovering from the coronavirus after receiving a positive test result nine days prior.

“No residents have been affected, either at the nursing home or the residential care home,” said Pond. He noted that despite seven employees testing positive for the virus “early on” in the pandemic, because they had been kept off the property, Noble residents were never exposed to the virus and the campus remained COVID-free.

‘Decline in public’s resolve’

Heading into flu season and the winter months, state and county public health officials said it was a likelihood that the tail end of 2020, into early 2021, could be a difficult time, particularly with increased socialization around the holidays and ensuing spread. 

The danger of “COVID fatigue,” along with eased restrictions and school openings, said health experts, has led to a spike in cases.

Dr. James Shepherd, an infectious disease consultant at Yale-New Haven Hospital who lives in Sharon, said in late October that he was worried about a decline in the public’s resolve to social distance, wear masks and avoid indoor congregate gatherings.  Unless there was a reversal in behavior, the infectious disease expert predicted at the time, “This will be a painful fall and winter.” 

“In Connecticut we are seeing increased transmission in people’s homes as they relax mask wearing and return to more close interactions with small groups of people they trust,” said Shepherd.

Officials at Sharon Hospital and Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington reported a “concerning” uptick in COVID-19-related admissions, as well as infections among staff, which they attribute to the community spread. Hospitalizations due to the second wave of the viral outbreak now top 1,000 statewide. At the height of the pandemic in early spring, hospitalizations peaked at around 2,000.

Beefed-up testing in region

Meanwhile, state and town officials mobilized in an effort to beef up COVID-19 testing sites in the Northwest Corner, particularly in the communities with high infection rates, in an effort to identify residents both asymptomatic and showing signs of illness.

State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) has been on the forefront in the effort to halt the progression of COVID-19 cases in the Northwest Corner and keep her constituents informed. In late November she announced that with the overall rise in confirmed infections, the state has worked with local organizations to make testing more accessible throughout the area. 

Several new “pop-up” testing sites are being provided through Community Health & Wellness Center in Torrington, which will be providing testing in Goshen, North Canaan and at its office in Torrington.

Recovery centers re-open — but not in Sharon 

Earlier this year, Sharon Health Care Center had been set aside by the state as a COVID-19 recovery center, but the facility is no longer under consideration for such purpose, said Tim Brown, spokesman for Athena Health Care, in early November. He noted at that time that pop-up sites operated by Athena in Torrington and Meriden are among four statewide designated as recovery centers. 

The COVID-19 Recovery Center in Meriden at Westfield Specialty Care Center opened on Nov. 11, and on Nov. 23, 41 patients were recovering there. “These patients have been admitted from various hospitals, nursing homes and group homes throughout Connecticut,” said Brown.

 “We have exceeded the admissions for phase one [30 beds] and have now opened phase two, the second wing of the center, to accommodate up to an additional 30 patients,” for a total of 60 patients, according to the Athena spokesman. The center’s overall licensure is for up to 90 patients.

In addition, Torrington Specialty Care Center, a former nursing home, is expected to start accepting coronavirus patients in early December, said Brown. Total capacity will be 120. 

Meanwhile, Sharon Health Care Center, also managed by Athena, has “one facility-acquired COVID-19 positive resident in their center, who we anticipate to be recovered over the next few days,” Brown reported on Nov. 23. Recovered, he said, means no more signs and symptoms and no longer infectious, 10 days after symptoms first appeared.

Athena, said Brown, is “ready and able” to meet the growing demand to treat patients released from the hospital until they can safely be returned to nursing homes or other community settings. However, he encouraged everyone to do their part to limit the community spread that affects the frail population in nursing homes. 

“It is clear that communities with a higher prevalence of COVID-19,” he said, “will have a higher prevalence in their local nursing home.”