Coronavirus Cases Rise, Residents Receive Vaccine In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — Town residents 75 years old and over are continuing to receive vaccines as the number of coronavirus cases in Greenwich continues to rise, according to town officials.

During a press update Wednesday afternoon, First Selectman Fred Camillo said the number of cases of the virus has risen to 3,223, an increase of 166 from last week.

The total number of active cases has also risen to 189, up 26 from last week, Camillo said. No new deaths as a result of the virus were reported this week, the total number of which is currently 79.

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According to Greenwich Hospital president Diane Kelly, the hospital has 39 patients in-house as of Wednesday. Kelly noted the hospital typically discharges the same number of patients it takes in each day, keeping the number of patients relatively consistent each week.

"That's something we're continuing to watch," Kelly said, "and I have to say that it's really essential that people continue to wear their mask, [practice] good hand hygiene and good social distancing. I know people are very tired at this point in time, but we still have not vaccinated enough people in our population that we should be letting up in any way, shape or form."

Kelly said she was happy to report that Greenwich Hospital and the Yale New Haven Health System have been able to move their vaccination efforts into the community.

"We've had very helpful and productive meetings with the town of Greenwich," Kelly said. "They've been essential in helping us with police and traffic, and just talking through our vaccine processes together as a health system and with our town."

Kelly said the vaccine clinics in town are going "extremely well" so far.

"People are being so grateful and so calm," Kelly said. "I can say that people are waiting their turn, people are maintaining social distancing, so everything is going smoothly."

The hospital announced last week a public vaccine clinic would be held at the Brunswick School, located on King Street. The clinic officially opened Monday.

Camillo said he stopped by the school this week and it seemed to be going well.

"It was running very smoothly," Camillo said. "No complaints at all, so thank you to Greenwich Hospital for getting this up and running."

While Camillo said he has not received much feedback from residents on how the clinics in town have been running so far, he did note some people have voiced concerns that residents from areas of New York near Greenwich may try to receive the vaccine in town.

"People are always going to try and skirt the rules," Camillo said. "I know we have Connecticut residents trying to do that in New Jersey and Florida...so it doesn't surprise me that residents of other states are trying it here, so we're keeping an eye on it as best we can, but we are aware of it."