Area hospitals have seen an approximately 10% increase in COVID-19 virus cases in the past month, the chair of the New Canaan Health & Human Services Commission said Thursday.
The Norwalk Hospital system “had 50 in-house with COVID with about 30 patients under investigation,” Dr. Harrison Pierce said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held via videoconference.
“These are mostly unvaccinated individuals, but not all. The recent numbers on those who are vaccinated and less than 75, there hospital prevention is in the realm of about 95%, but once you get beyond 75 and 80’s, 90’s then it drops to about 80%, so even though the vaccines are great they are not 100%.”
The comments came during a general update to the Commission. New Canaan Health Director Jenn Eielson is on vacation and did not attend the meeting. Pierce relayed statistics from her that included vaccination rates by age group:
- Ages 12-17: 92% vaccinated
- 18-24: 100%
- 24-44: 100%
- 45-64: 87%
- 65-and-over: 100%
“I think they are all great numbers,” Pierce said. “The town itself is in the 70th percentile but that includes the less-than-12 who are not eligible for the vaccine.”
Pierce referred to reports about children’s hospitals “being overwhelmed these days.”
“That is because the 0-to-12 [age range] is not immunized and the Delta [variant of COVID-19 virus] is very contagious, more contagious than the Alpha [variant] which was our first,” he said. “But there are other things contributing to this, too. And all of these respiratory viruses that we really didn’t see because of the masking and the distancing et cetera, when those things were relaxed, they—even off-season, with respiratory viruses are usually autumn/winter, but they had seen an increasing number of these things during the summer—and that’s contributing to the hospital census being as high as it is and in children’s hospitals.”
Pierce said that, as per federal CDC recommendations, booster shots of vaccine will be made available for those with moderately to severely compromised immune systems. The is in the process of putting together a plan to offer the booster shots, and the site likely will not be Lapham Community Center, where vaccine shots have been given in the past, given the facility’s schedule.
Although the CDC is only recommending booster shots for immunocompromised people right now, federal officials said Aug. 18 that they’re working on a plan to offer the booster shots this fall to additional people.
During the update shared on Eielson’s behalf, Pierce added that the grant for a public health nurse in the Health Department has been continued through November 2022. The continued grant funding had been a concern in the past.
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