Vaccines rolling out at Middletown health center; city receives its shipment

Originally posted at Middletown Press

When municipal offices were closed Christmas Eve for two weeks due to the number of COVID-19 cases among workers, the swift decision prevented what officials believe could have been a larger outbreak within the next 24 hours, the mayor said.

Mayor Ben Florsheim closed all city buildings from Friday until Jan. 4 after the numbers of those affected increased enough to warrant fast action, he said. “Because it was a moderate outbreak, we were able to keep it under control,” he said. “In another 24 hours, that could have turned much more severe.”

Although cases were confined to City Hall, the Water and Sewer Department on Berlin Street, and the Senior and Community Center, all facilities were shuttered for reasons including the fact that employees routinely move between offices as part of their duties, Florsheim said. “We’re lucky in that cases we first started seeing were off-site,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Community Health Center, which received 3,400 doses of the COVID vaccination Wednesday, is already inoculating health care workers at its offices, and soon expects to be administering it to first responders, according to Leslie Gianelli, vice president of communications.

The doses will be given to workers at three other of the center’s sites throughout Connecticut: Stamford, Hartford and Waterbury, she said. “Thirty-four hundred [doses] is more than we need for our staff,” so the remainder — for other groups in the state’s Phase 1A — is expected to be used on first responders.

The city received its shipment of 500 doses Monday, Acting Health Director Kevin Elak said. These will be given out starting Wednesday as part of a coordinated plan between the Durham and Cromwell health districts, Middlesex Health and local pharmacies, Florsheim said.

City workers who cannot work from home — as in the case of firefighters — will be vaccinated at the end of their 24-hour shift to maximize the chance of them having adverse reactions, since they don’t work the following the days, Elak said. The reactions could include mild joint pain, soreness at the injection site, and less so, body aches, he said.

Elak is working with Middletown Fire Chief and EMS Director Robert Kronenberger to put together a vaccination schedule next month. “Our plan is to take it slowly at first,” Elak said.

“Things are going relatively smoothly so far. We’re well on our way,” the mayor said. Municipal employees will be vaccinated during Phase 1B, when Florsheim will be inoculated.

Elak compiles the COVID-19 town and county level data on a weekly basis. As of Dec. 26, which covers the two-week period of Dec. 6 to 19, the total number of cases were 2,177, a rise of 186; while confirmed deaths rose by three, at 108.

Middletown’s rate per 100,000 over the two prior weeks averaged 52.5, according to Elak’s data. That is half a percent higher than the last reporting period. It is on par with state numbers, which show that, of Connecticut’s eight counties, there were an average of 52.6 cases per 100,000.

So far in Middletown, during the week of Dec. 13, there were 177 cases. For the week of Dec. 20, 131 cases were reported. For the week of Dec. 6, there were 163 positive cases; Nov. 29, 179; Nov. 22, 175; Nov. 15, 196; Nov. 8, 198; and Nov. 1, 101.

“I’m a little concerned it has risen a little bit [the week of Dec. 13,” said Elak, who anticipates those numbers will continue to go up through January.

He is basing that now, once an individual in a household tests positive, “everybody gets it,” he said. Prior to that, often a single person was the only one affected, he said. He attributes that to factors including people spending more time indoors.

The surge following the Thanksgiving holiday, experienced by states across the nation, doesn’t seem to have occurred in Middletown, he said. “The first week of December was actually lower than the week before,” Elak said. “Maybe people did listen and didn’t have gatherings.”

The public schools also moved students in certain facilities to fully remote since classes convened in the fall. That decision has primarily been based on a lack of staff who have, or are, quarantined due to possible or actual exposure, Elak has said.

Data for the last two weeks still is being updated. It takes up to five days, and sometimes longer, for local health officials to receive final figures from the state, Elak has said.

For a list of COVID testing centers in Middletown, go to middletownct.gov, where the city’s COVID-19 summary is also located. Information from the state can be accessed at portal.ct.gov/coronavirus.