Coronavirus Ridgefield: Now 2 Dead, 15 'Active Cases'

RIDGEFIELD, CT — The new coronavirus has claimed a second life in Ridgefield, and there are 15 "active cases" in the town.

Health Director Ed Briggs gave the update in a meeting video streamed from the Town website on Monday afternoon.

The first state casualty was a Ridgefield man who had been a resident of Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings. Both victims were in their 80s.

There are now 415 state laboratory-confirmed cases of the new coronavirus among Connecticut residents, Gov. Ned Lamont said at a press conference Monday afternoon. The number of dead from the virus in the United States topped 570 Monday, an increase of more than 100 deaths in a single day for the first time since the virus struck the United States. A week ago the number of deaths was 70.

Briggs, along with First Selectman Rudy Marconi, stressed the importance of social distancing in slowing the spread of the virus.

"Those of you who still feel it is okay to congregate... this is exactly what we don't want to see," Marconi said, calling social distancing "the only tool in our toolbox."

"The reasons our numbers are growing is due to exposure to one another," Marconi said.

"If you are not social distancing, if you are not taking this seriously, you are putting our first responders in jeopardy," Fire Chief Jerry Myers said. "We have a limited number of firefighters, if they start going down because of cross-infections, we're going to be in world of hurt."