Zero COVID-19 Patients Being Treated At Greenwich Hospital

GREENWICH, CT — There is now some clear light at the end of the tunnel with regards to COVID-19, as Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo announced on Wednesday that all Emergency Operations meetings related to the pandemic will be suspended. Additionally, weekly briefings with Camillo and Greenwich Hospital will also be ending for the time being.

The news comes as Greenwich is seeing declining cases and hospitalizations. As of Wednesday morning, there were 5,120 cases in town to date since the pandemic began, with an increase of just five over the last two weeks.

Across the five hospitals in the Yale New Haven Health System, 25 COVID-positive patients were being treated as of Wednesday, down from 34 last week.

Dana Marnane, director of public relations for Greenwich Hospital, said Wednesday was the second straight day without any COVID-positive patients being treated in house. At one point during the height of the pandemic, the roughly 200-bed facility housed over 120 patients.

Marnane also said the hospital moved off of "Code D Status." This level of operations allowed the Yale New Haven Health System and Greenwich Hospital to set up communications system wide to allow for the mobilization of the hospitals' Incident Command System.

"I think there's a continued sense of optimism, but we need people to get vaccinated. Let's keep the momentum going," said Marnane.

Camillo said Greenwich is just over the 65% vaccination mark. He also mentioned that masks will be optional at Town Hall beginning June 21.

Marnane noted the demand for vaccinations at Yale New Haven Health's mass sites is "very low", and that the last doses will be administered at the Brunswick School site this weekend.

"Our focus this summer is going to be reaching out to underserved communities via a FEMA van and community pop-up clinics," Marnane said, adding that areas of focus will include Bridgeport, New Haven and other municipalities identified by the state. "The state also has terrific resources to help locate where to get vaccinated, and local pharmacy chains have plenty of supply."

Greenwich Health Director Caroline Baisley said she expected to see a decline in numbers especially right now since warm weather has arrived and vaccinations are more widespread.

"It's seasonal, and we do anticipate an increase of some sort in the fall because the weather gets colder and we still have variants circulating," she said. "We don't know what kind of numbers we'll be looking at, but over the next couple of months we should see the same decline we're seeing now with some jumps here and there, but nothing of significance unless the variants that are circulating get out of hand."

Camillo is hoping residents can get out and enjoy the summer in a safe way.

"Get outside, enjoy the sun and hopefully you're vaccinated. If you're not, I would encourage you to go get vaccinated," he said to residents during Wednesday's briefing.

"It looks like the worst is over. We're just telling people to go out and enjoy themselves. But don't be silly."