New Canaan Coronavirus Update: Social Distancing Still Needed

NEW CANAAN, CT — Though more than 60 New Canaan residents are confirmed to have contracted the new coronavirus (COVID-19), and seven residents have died from it as of Friday, Mike Handler, New Canaan's director of Emergency Management remains optimistic.

In his nightly address on Friday, Handler said New Canaanites still must adhere to social distancing and other efforts to slow the spread of the virus, but he believes those efforts will pay off.

"Please do not take this as a license to relax our social actions," Handler said. "Continue to thoroughly wash your hands and avoid all social contact outside of your immediate family."

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Statewide, the number of coronavirus cases continued to increase at a daunting pace as of Friday. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 131 people in Connecticut — 75 from Fairfield County — and the number of cases grew by more than 1,000 in a day to 4,914.

In Fairfield County, the number of new positive cases reached 2,716 as of Friday.

This is part of Handler's Friday announcement:

Let’s take a moment to be thankful that today our community did not experience any loss of life. We have been working with our hospitals to increase their capacity and we will continue to support their efforts in every possible way. Work continues on sourcing and delivering personal protective equipment to our first responders and our hospitals, doctors and nurses.

I know that on my nightly calls, I have been highlighting many of the negative aspects of what we are experiencing daily. It is truly not my intention to do anything other than deliver the factual information that I believe you are entitled to and deserve. While we do not yet have ample data to say definitively, I am increasingly optimistic that our strict social-distancing and prohibition on social gathering is going to pay off. Please do not take this as a license to relax our social actions. Continue to thoroughly wash your hands and avoid all social contact outside of your immediate family.

Covid-19 testing is available, by appointment only, at Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich Hospitals. To obtain an appointment at any of these sites, you will need a prescription from your personal physician.