CT Coronavirus Updates: 49 More Deaths, 110 New Hospitalizations

HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut announced 49 more coronavirus deaths and 110 new hospitalizations Wednesday. That puts the total number of deaths at 326 and hospitalizations at 1,418. Numbers for new positive cases weren't available as of 4 p.m.

Gov. Ned Lamont remained hopeful that social distancing was helping to slow the growth of hospitalizations.

Lamont announced he will sign an executive order Wednesday night to put a moratorium on initiating evictions for renters for 90 to 120 days. He will also make a decision on schools within the next week. He said he would like to open in June, but right now isn’t sure if that will be possible.

The personal protective equipment situation in Connecticut should improve in the coming days as the state expects a large shipment, said state COO Josh Geballe.

Potential Unemployment Benefit Fix Coming

Around 132,000 unemployment claims have been processed out of 302,000 that have been submitted since March 13, said Kurt Westby, DOL commissioner. DOL has quadrupled its staff working on unemployment filings.

The state within a month has seen what is normally two-years worth of claims, Westby said.

DOL implemented one technical fix that had 40,000 people re-submit their claims through an automated system, which greatly sped up processing.

The department is working on another technical fix that will force the majority of claims into an automated process. Westby said that they are currently testing the fix and hope it will be completed within two to three days.

Those who file through the non-automated system will see a lag of five to six weeks for benefits. It will be far shorter for those using the automated process. There are instructions on the unemployment website on how to go through the automated process.

Connecticut's unemployment processing system uses a 40-year-old mainframe that runs on the COBOL language along with four other systems, according to DOL.

The language is no longer widely taught to developers. The state is in the process of developing a modern system that was scheduled to launch in the middle of 2021, but that has been put on hold while the state deals with the deluge of unemployment claims. Many other states are dealing with similar issues.

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State’s Black Residents Infected At Higher Rate, Worse Outcomes

Connecticut’s black and Hispanic residents are being infected at a higher rate than white residents, Lamont said. Around 100 out of every 100,000 white residents are testing positive for coronavirus while the figure is closer to 200 per 100,000 for black residents and 175 for Hispanics.

Black residents also have a higher chance of dying from coronavirus with about 12 deaths per 100,000 residents compared to nine for white residents and five for Hispanic residents, Lamont said.

White House officials worry that nationally the same trend seems to hold true. Dr. Anthony Fauci called the situation “unacceptable” and said that predisposing conditions including asthma, diabetes and hypertension that affect black Americans at a greater rate than white Americans tend to lead to worse coronavirus outcomes. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force said national data suggests that the African American community isn’t more susceptible to being infected, but is more susceptible to worse outcomes.

Lamont attributed the situation to a number of factors. Black residents are more likely to live in Connecticut’s urban cities where coronavirus tends to spread more rapidly because social distancing is harder. Black residents are also less likely to be able to telecommute to jobs, which puts them at greater risk of contracting the disease while working. (To sign up for free, local breaking news alerts from more than 100 Connecticut communities, click here.)

Black residents are also about four times as likely to have asthma or diabetes than white residents, which puts them at greater risk of having coronavirus complications, Lamont said.

Lamont said Medicaid has expanded by about 14,000 people in Connecticut within the last two months and that SNAP also known as food stamp benefits have also been expanded. Medicaid has also expanded access to primary care physicians in order to make it easier for those who may have coronavirus to get tested.

Nursing Homes

Connecticut is putting plans in place to turn two nursing homes into COVID-19 positive only facilities. One home is in Sharon and the other is in Fairfield County, said Barbara Cass, head of healthcare quality and safety for the state Department of Public Health.

The state is also planning to turn recently-closed homes in Torrington and New Canaan into recovery sites for nursing home residents who are discharged from a hospital for COVID-19, but aren’t yet fully recovered.

DPH is also working with nursing homes to ensure they have an adequate supply of personal protective equipment. Homes with a greater number of COVID-19 cases will need to use a greater amount of PPE, Cass said.

The state will also be publishing a report about how many cases are at each nursing home in the state.