Thanksgiving message

 I was going to post a Thanksgiving message when I read this message from my Congressman Joe Courtney He said what I was feeling better than I could have. BTW, glad you’re on the road to recovery Joe, and a big thank you to you for all you do. 

“This year’s Thanksgiving message is dedicated to them—to the nurses and health care workers on their feet for 12 hours at a time caring for our sick; the grocery clerks, delivery drivers and postal workers delivering the essential goods we all continue to rely on; the teachers and parents who have faced unprecedented challenges while they educate our students both in and out of the classroom; the volunteers working to deliver masks, PPE, and warm meals to folks who need them; and to every working family in eastern Connecticut that has had to balance life amid this pandemic. I am grateful for the tremendous strength and generosity of spirit we have witnessed from you all throughout this health crisis”

Corona Virus update, 11/22

 Hospitalizations in Connecticut increased this week from 659 to 848. Projections are that it will reach 1,700 in late December or early January, before decreasing. (It reached 1,972 in the spring)

4,828 Connecticut residents have passed from Covid.

We have learned more about the virus and how to treat it and that will help to keep numbers lower than otherwise, but our healthcare workers, our teachers and paraprofessionals, and all our essential workers are tired, and that’s not good.

I spoke to one of our Registered Nurse Local presidents this week at the end of one of her shifts.  She said she knows 5 nurses who have resigned in the last 3 weeks and she knows nurses are afraid to come in for their scheduled shifts because they have a good chance of being “mandated” to stay late due to shortages. There is also growing concern on national calls about the long term affects on the number of people entering the healthcare and education professions.

We can help.

Wear a mask, socially distance the best you can, wash your hands.

I does make a difference.

Sweden tried it the other way.

In the spring, Sweden kept everything open and discouraged masks, hoping for heard immunity.

Their neighbors closed down. 

Finland had 375 deaths, Norway 305, Denmark 778.

Sweden had over 6,000, and are now in a bad second wave and are closing down.

Heard immunity did not develop. 

I have an request from our members of Rockville General Hospital. They are trying to maintain services at this small community hospital which is now part of a for profit chain. Would you sign their petition? They would appreciate it.

Be well.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrpDFTQ5XhpDesLeSUsjmnwIdoXBKPqRvDbXp0P1kzuOJyjA/viewform

Corona Virus update 11/15

On March 8, The first case of Covid in Connecticut was announced.

On April 22, 1,972 Connecticut residents where in the hospital. 121 died that day.

On June 29, 98 people where hospitalized

On August 17, 42 people.

On September 21, 68.

On November 5, that number was 380.

On, November 13, it was 659. 

As we move indoors and as we have opened up schools and businesses, we have created a situation where Covid can more easily spread. Our closeness to each other and our containment of any virus in an enclosed area as opposed to the great outdoors, increases the ability of transmission between people.

Thankfully, we are not in the same situation as much of the country, where spread of the virus is faster and more widespread than at any time. But still, as our daily numbers increase, contract tracing becomes more difficult, hospitals and staff become more crowed and fatigued. 

We have learned much, in treatment and prevention. If we use that knowledge, we MAY be able to prevent numbers like we saw in April in Connecticut. 

But we must use that knowledge.

Wear a mask. 

Socially distance as best as possible.

Wash your hands often.

Get a flu shot.

We all hope a vaccine is on the horizon, latest news is encouraging.

Until then, we are all in this together, lets help each other as best we can.

Friday’s numbers:

43,078 tested.

2,746 positive. (6.37%) (In the summer this was lower than 1%)

659 hospitalized, up 42 that day, 279 that week.

4,737 CT residents have died, 11 on Friday, almost a quarter of a million in the US, 1.3 million worldwide.

Covid is killing Healthcare Workers

 Healthcare workers have struggled for 11 months to obtain adequate PPE. We have been told by hospitals and other healthcare facilities that they are following CDC guidance. But CDC guidance is based on inventory and although we have been assured there is adequate inventory, we still do not operate with normal infection control practices. Hospitals do not tell the state or the public what their inventory is. Because of this, Healthcare workers are dying.

http://norwichbulletin.ct.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=46797df2f

This experiment in democracy

 As we await the results of this election (with anxiety), I think it’s important to remember that we are an experiment in democracy. Some 220+ years old, we are still young in the terms of human history. To be sure, the world is watching us and the world is rooting for us, to be as Abraham Lincoln said, “ that nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” 

John Kennedy understood this when he said, 'We must always consider, that we shall be as a city upon a hill – the eyes of all people are upon us.'

We strive to be “a more perfect union” and we are not there yet but as MLK said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

I pray that we stay calm, that we let the vote process play out, and that when it is done, we come together and move forward in this great experiment in democracy.