| Data updates on testing in Connecticut
A county-by-county breakdown includes:
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County
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COVID-19 Cases
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COVID-19 Deaths
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COVID-19 Hospitalizations
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Confirmed
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Probable
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Confirmed
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Probable
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Fairfield County
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16,840
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654
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1,091
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312
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18
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Hartford County
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11,741
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660
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1,091
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320
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12
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Litchfield County
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1,506
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64
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117
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21
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1
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Middlesex County
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1,313
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61
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151
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38
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3
|
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New Haven County
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12,561
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404
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949
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150
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18
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New London County
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1,319
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63
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77
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26
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0
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Tolland County
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909
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63
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51
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14
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0
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Windham County
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666
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8
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14
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1
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2
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Pending address validation
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234
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11
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0
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0
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0
|
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Total
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47,089
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1,988
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3,541
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882
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54
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For several additional graphs and tables containing more data, including a list of cases in every municipality, click here. |
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| Governor Lamont Announces the Everybody Learns Initiative: A $43.5 Million Program to Close the Digital Divide for Connecticut Students
Governor Ned Lamont announced today that his administration is launching the Everybody Learns initiative: a $43.5 million investment in remote learning solutions to close the digital divide in Connecticut and empower students across the state to learn from home, especially as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues impacting the country. The governor said that the funding – which comes from the state’s portion of the federal CARES Act, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund – will be used to purchase 50,000 laptops for students, 12 months of access to at-home internet for 60,000 students, create public hotspots free to the public at 200 community sites across the state, and offer social emotional learning content to school districts statewide.
The number of students identified as in need of access to laptops and at-home internet is based on survey information that was submitted to the State Department of Education and Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology. The state will purchase the at-home internet access through several broadband internet companies, including Altice USA/Optimum, Atlantic Broadband, Comcast, Cox, and Charter. The personal hotspots will be covered by cellular signal through the student hotspot provider Kajeet.
The Office of the Governor, State Department of Education, Department of Administrative Services, Office of Policy and Management, and the Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology will coordinate with internet companies and school districts to ensure students receive the learning devices as quickly as possible, and the form of internet coverage that meets their needs and empowers them to participate in high-quality remote learning. Likewise, internet providers have agreed to work closely with the administration and school IT directors to support households that have students who will be learning this fall.
The State Department of Education has made social and emotional well-being and mental health supports a priority given its relationship to improving conditions for learning and ultimately improving students’ school and life outcomes. During the long period of class cancellation, the need for quality social emotional and mental health supports for students and educators has been intensified by pandemic related trauma, anxiety, and distance from the relationships formed at school. Putting a strong program of social and emotional learning (SEL) and mental health supports in place can ease the transition and mitigate issues that may otherwise occur. The department will devote CARES Act funding to supplement the development of a statewide SEL framework that will support educator professional learning and implementation of evidenced-based programs. In addition, the department will:
- Provide professional learning through RESCs and SERC to support educators in providing social and emotional supports;
- Provide resources to districts for delivery of general behavioral and mental health screening; and
- Promote implementation of universal SEL curriculum/programming at the district level and secure resources for outreach or professional learning on Equity, Implicit Bias and Inclusion.
The 200 hotspots will be open to the public at no cost to the user. The state will partner with the Connecticut Education Network (CEN) to utilize the fiber and infrastructure it already provides to sites in communities across the state and boost signals for the public at large to be able to access for free.
Districts will begin receiving communication from the state today about the process by which they will receive their laptops, broadband vouchers or Kajeet hotspots. Community sites will soon receive communication from CEN about hotspots
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Regional travel advisory expanded to include more locations with high COVID-19 infection rates
The regional travel advisory between Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York that went into effect last month and directs incoming travelers from states with a significant community spread of COVID-19 to self-quarantine for a 14-day period was updated today and now also includes Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC.
The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.
As of today, the full list of locations meeting this criteria includes:
- Alaska
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- Montana
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Puerto Rico
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- Wisconsin
This list will continue to be updated on a regular basis as the situation develops across the country. Anyone seeking the most up-to-date information on the regional travel advisory is encouraged to visit the state’s coronavirus website.
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FEMA approves extension of non-congregate sheltering program through September 1
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a 30 day extension of the non-congregate sheltering authorization under the FEMA Public Assistance program until September 1, 2020. This approval was previously set to expire on August 1, 2020. This vital program, which was initially approved in March, provides non-congregate housing to certain high-risk individuals, including those have COVID-19 or have been in contact with COVID-19 positive individuals. It provides the state and its municipalities with a 75 percent reimbursement of all eligible costs associated with this housing.
The program includes non-congregate housing for:
- Those at high risk of exposure in public service;
- Individuals in at-risk facilities such as group homes, nursing homes, long-term care sites, and alternative care facilities;
- First responders and health care workers who have been exposed and cannot return home;
- Homeless individuals in congregate shelters; and
- Individuals in domestic violence shelters.
Connecticut’s implementation of this program has been highlighted as a best practice by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.
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