'Winter Is Coming': CT Towns Revert To Phase 2 Reopening Plan

CONNECTICUT — When the state began color-coding the coronavirus infection rates in municipalities, towns in the red zone were given the option to revert to phase 2 of the state's reopening plan.

Phase 2 would see more venues closed and further capacity limits to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. It's a good call for public health but a brutal one for the local economy.

Jim Rivers, town manager in Windham, was the first municipal leader to pull the trigger. In the red zone from day one, Rivers said he had been watching his town's coronavirus numbers climbing from early September onward. He said he was tentative about dropping back to phase 2, leery about the effect it might have on Eastern Connecticut State University, which calls Windham home.

Ultimately, Rivers said the decision to go back to phase 2 "made a lot of sense to us."

"We are letting data drive the decision," he said.

Ironically, Rivers' data showed that most of the infections were not coming from the schools and university.

"It was coming more from families, friends and groups outside a controlled environment where there are protocols in place," he said.

Towns in the red zone have recorded 15 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people per day over a two-week average. In the latest tally, Windham had a case rate of 19.1, down from 22.6 the previous week.

Rivers said he has been sharing the local infection rate data with the community since the very start of the pandemic.

"As our numbers went up, we increased the restrictions, and as things get better, we may loosen those restrictions," he said.

When Windham was admitted into the red zone in September, it was an exclusive club. As of Thursday, it's beginning to look like they're letting anybody in. Eleven more towns hit the red alert button this week, bringing the total to 30.

More towns have decided to drop back to phase 2 this week as well. Bridgeport, New Haven, West Haven, Norwalk and Stamford have all have bitten the bullet in the past 24 hours.

What's going on?

Both Rivers and Gov. Ned Lamont said that a town making the call to go from phase 3 to phase 2 is about more than just tighter policing of happy hours. They see it as sending a message.

"It's a message that everyone needs to do something individually," Rivers said.

Lamont announced Thursday even more municipalities will have a chance to send that message. The state now allows orange zone towns (10-14 cases per 100,000) to drop back to phase 2 if they so choose. With that new metric in place, over two-thirds of Connecticut's towns are phase 2-eligible.

That makes a lot of sense to Windham's town manager, who sees it as an opportunity to batten down the hatches ahead of the storm.

"Winter is coming," Rivers said. "The cold weather is coming, and we wanted to get our baseline down as low as we could in Windham and make sure we don't have an exponential growth. If we do, at least we'll have it from a lower baseline."

"We always knew that in October, November, December with the colder weather and flu season, we were going to see a second wave," Lamont said. "I was hoping it was more gradual."

The big question is: What is he prepared to do now that he knows it's not? On several occasions during his Thursday news conference, the governor teased that the greater good might dictate a state-mandated rollback to pre-phase 3 restrictions. That, despite restaurants in gray zones where there is low infection having "earned the right to stay open."

Lamont said he did not have an absolute metric in mind for a statewide phase 3-killer, but cautioned, "We are getting close."

Winter is coming.

See Also: CT Coronavirus Positivity Rate Over 6 Percent, Highest Since June

30 CT Towns Now In 'Red Alert' Zone As Coronavirus Cases Soar

High Virus Concentrations Found In Stamford, Bridgeport Sewage

Do you live in an orange or red zone? Are your leaders contemplating a return to phase 2? Here's what that looks like:

• Restaurants: Up to 50 percent capacity indoors, with 6 feet of spacing and/or nonporous barriers.

• Personal Services: Up to 50 percent capacity indoors with 6 feet of spacing and/or nonporous barriers.

• Libraries: Up to 50 percent capacity indoors.

• Private gatherings:
  • Indoors: Limited to 25 people.
  • Outdoors: Limited to 100 people.

• Religious gatherings:
  • Indoors: Limited to 25 percent of building capacity, no more than 100 people total.
  • Outdoors: Limited to 150 people total.

• Indoor performing arts theaters: Closed.

See the state's COVID-19 portal for more guidelines.