Corona Virus Update 4/9 (the morning after)

I’ll get to the numbers for yesterday in a minute, but first I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks. The reason I didn’t get this out last night as I usually do is because we had a Delegate Assembly meeting by Zoom that ran late into the evening.

So I want to say thanks. Thanks to those who, many after a long day at work in their ”day job”, are on the phones with members, with legislators, and with anyone else who will listen, and then had a 2 1/2 hour meeting. 

Thanks to the Healthcare professionals who quite literally are risking their lives at work without vital  protective  equipment. Thanks for sleeping in hotels, garages, cars, so that you keep you families safe. Thanks for standing up for each other in the workplace.

Thanks to the teachers, both preK-12 and higher education, and who have converted to distance learning in record time. Thanks for adjusting your teaching style while remaining committed to your students. Thanks for your flexibility with the uncertainty of when or if you will return to the classroom this year.

Thanks to the PSRPs for continuing to report to work to keep the “behind the screens” part of education going, enabling the teachers to teach. Thanks for continuing to be there for your students, many of whom struggle with daily life, let alone a life that seems like it is out of a movie, with uncertainty and change on a hourly basis. Thank you for the school lunch programs and other vital services you continue to provide. 

Thank you to our public service workers, many who work for the state. Thank you for adjusting to working at home, often with outdated computers and systems and with expectations from the public that are hard to meet at this time. Thank you for the patient care and research you are doing in our state hospital. Thank you for carrying on the functions of state government that are so, so vital in this time when the federal government is less than prepared to lead.

Thank you to our retirees who have been, as they always are, an important voice to the politicians. Raising up the concerns of those who continue to work under extreme conditions. Thank you to those who have stepped out of retirement and returned to work and/or volunteer service to the rest of us.

Thank you to the dedicated staff of AFT Connecticut an AFT who leave me emails at 12:20 as your chief of staff did last night. Who email hospital HR people that they will be available to talk until 1:00 am and then again after 6:00 am as our field reps do. To our always busy communication team who are even busier now setting up interviews and prepping members for them, who put out vital communications, and so much more. Thank you to our organizers who have had their normal tools of face to face meetings taken from them and have adapted to Zoom and other platforms. Thank you to our office professional staff who somehow have found a way to keep the office running, mostly from home, even though the demands on them have grown. Thank you to our Professional Development and Legislative teams, who virtually attend state and education meetings and report out to leadership and members. Who are adjusting to providing more on-line PD. Who, like the organizers, are finding a way to continue to use their expertise in a world where they can no longer meet face to face with members and politicians.

Thank you to our member leaders who by word and example inspire our members, encourage them, and help them find their voice.

Mostly, thank you to our members. Those still at the workplace, those working from home, those on furloughs, Thank you for all you do. 

Like the rest of the world, our union is facing challenges we could not have imagined. We are meeting those challenges because of the people I have mentioned above and others I have not.  We will face new challenges in the days ahead, even when this pandemic subsides. Already, and quite ironically, the cries of a state budget that will be grossly affected is being used to advocate for less public employees, for more privatization. At this time when the private sector health system is showing that preparing for a pandemic and providing enough staff and protective equipment to handle the surge is not a part of their “business plan,” we hear calls for less government services, less control over vital services, not more. We will need to push back on that narrative, a narrative motivated by people who see a way to make money off healthcare, education, and public services.

We alone are the voice that stands against this narrative.

We must be ready.

We will be ready.

We will face this challenge the way we face this pandemic, together in solidarity.

You are truly heroes. 

Thursday was the 33 day since the first diagnosed case of Covid-19 in Connecticut.

Currently there at 1464 hospitalized, up 46 from Wednesday

380 have died, up 45

33,502 have been tested, up 1802

9784 have tested positive, up 1003

This is a nice video from UHP/UConn Farmington (John Dempsey Hospital).

It’s a great example of the fine work being done at our only public hospital.

https://www.fox61.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/icu-nurses-at-uconn/520-fc5a30ef-041b-4f57-ba1f-40953146d0c0

Be safe an thank you,

John