One the COVID ACT map, Connecticut is still yellow. It had turned orange briefly, but that was due to a statistical abnormality where old cases that had been recorded on paper back in May were added to the state totals.
The hospital where I work this week had its first COVID Free Day where no one in the hospital had COVID. Additionally in a recent study over 600 asymptomatic employees were tested and not a single one tested positive for COVID.
But trouble is working nearby. To the North in Springfield, Massachusetts, at Baystate hospital, 20 staff members and 13 patients tested positive for COVID after reportedly being infected by an employee who had traveled to a hot spot and returned to work without guaranteeing or telling anyone.
Another COVID-19 cluster identified: 13 patients, 23 employees at Baystate Medical Center
To the south in Greenwich, Connecticut on the New york border, there were 41 new cases in a week with half between 10 and 19. And just yesterday after the state had dropped to its lowest number of hospitalized patients, Fairfield country, which includes Greenwich, added 8 new cases.
To the East, our neighboring Rhode Island , which reopened a few weeks earlier than Connecticut has been experiencing a spike that is putting it on the edge of being added to Connecticut’s no travel list. Since the covid shutdowns began, the only time I have left Connecticut was on hot overcast day when I took my daughters to the Rhode Island beaches where we body surfed and boogie-boarded for a few hours, then left straight home.
Rhode Island is seeing a coronavirus spike. What does that mean for Connecticut?
Today, on the ambulance I had my first COVID confirmed patient in over a month. A gentleman who felt unwell a few days ago, got tested and was positive. Today, he had a fever and rigors, and felt short of breath.
I've switched from the surgical mask to the N95 as my in house mask. I can't breathe as well after climbing four flights of stairs with all my gear, but I don’t want to walk into a room full of COVID microdroplet soup.
In an “Are You Kidding Me?” article I read yesterday, there is a new study out speculating that tall people are at higher risk of getting COVID due to airborne transmission. By tall they are talking about those over 6 feet who they claim have double the risk of contracting COVID . I wonder what my risk is at 6 foot 8? I walk into a room, and my head is in the COVID miasma cloud of suspended microdroplets that have been lingering for hours in the poorly ventilated apartment above the head of those below -- all except me. Just great.
I hope this uptick is temporary and not the whole deal again.
But I am fearful.
