Bethel Coronavirus Update: 12 Deaths, Tax Relief

BETHEL, CT — First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker has confirmed that 12 residents have died as a result of the new coronavirus.

There have been 176 cases of the virus reported in Bethel as of Friday, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health

On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen approved a tax deferral program to help residents and businesses who have suffered income losses as a result of the pandemic shutdown. The program is open to all Bethel residents, businesses and non-profits.

"The program offers a 90-day deferral on all real and personal property taxes, utility charges and assessments between March 10th and July 1st, 2020," Knickerbocker posted on the town website. "This will apply to April tax bills that are currently pending, as well as tax bills to be issued in June. For those that qualify, the new deadline date for April taxes will be July 1st; for June taxes, the deadline date will be October 1st."

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To qualify for the program, residents and businesses must sign a form attesting to a loss of income during this period of 20 percent or more.

Program details and the application form can be found on online here.

Connecticut saw its highest single-day drop in net hospitalizations between Thursday and Friday with 70 less admitted patients. Fairfield County had a net drop of 36 hospitalizations.

The state continues to see a high amount of deaths with 125 more reported Friday. That brings the death total up to 1,764. There were also 821 new lab-confirmed cases out of 2,541 tests; there are 23,921 lab-confirmed cases in total.