Corona Virus update 7/21

This pandemic has had multiple crisis.
The medical crisis of so many sick and so many dead.
The economic crisis of the shutdown of the economy.
The racial healthcare disparity crisis worsened.
And the healthcare coverage crisis.

The Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report (here) that “More than 10 million people are estimated to lose employer-sponsored health insurance as a result of pandemic-related job loss in their household between April and December 2020.”  The report continues, “Projections show 3.3 million of those people will regain employer-sponsored insurance by being added to a family member’s policy, 2.8 million people will enroll in Medicaid, and 600,000 people will enroll in the individual market, mainly via the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. Still, 3.5 million people will become uninsured.”  

 A couple Of things to report.
Nuvance Healthcare (Danbury and New Milford) is now instructing our members to NOT reuse N95s. This is significant and is where we want all hospital systems to get too. We must push for a return to normal infection control.

Prospect Healthcare (Manchester and Rockville) is starting to fit test and train with elastomeric respirators, which, unlike N95s, are designed for decontamination and reuse.

134 days since the first confirmed case of Covid in Connecticut, we are at 62 people hospitalized and there were no new reported deaths today. In total, 4,406 have passed away. Positive tests are running just below 1%. (0.7% today)
Although this is welcome news, other states are recording record cases. We must learn from what we have been through and continue the practices that are helping.

Be well.