Danbury Coronavirus Updates: More Active Cases, Homeless Moved

DANBURY, CT — The state Department of Public Health has confirmed there are 218 cases of the new coronavirus in the Town, as of Monday afternoon. An additional 23 cases had been confirmed by private laboratories as of Sunday evening, according to Mayor Mark Boughton.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Connecticut ballooned by 578 cases to 2,571 and the number of deaths rose from 34 to 36 on Monday. The number of people hospitalized rose from 404 to 517 on Monday.

A total of 21 deaths have been reported in Fairfield County, six in New Haven County, four in Tolland County, three in Hartford County, and one each in Middlesex and Litchfield County.

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Online learning commenced on Monday for Danbury Public School students, Boughton confirmed on a Facebook live stream. He urged any parents who had not yet signed enrolled their children for online learning to do so promptly.

"I don't think we'll be going back to school anytime soon," Boughton said in the telecast.

The mayor encouraged resident, particularly young people, to practice proper social distancing.

"The reality is that we are seeing people who are pretty young being infected and being hospitalized with this disease."

Boughton said that the City, Danbury Hospital and Western Connecticut State University with will be working to set up the O'Neill Center at WCSU as an overflow center for patients of COVID-19.

"We will be building out the O'Neill Center with roughly 300 beds over the next week, week and a half, as we expect the surge of this disease to take place towards the third week in April," Boughton said.

"We may not need those beds, but we want to make sure they are there."

The City has moved its homeless population, "about 50-60 people," to the Super 8 Motel, Boughton said, "until the challenge is passed." The State is paying for their accommodations, according to the mayor.