Stamford 'Showing A Trend-Line Down' In COVID-19 Cases: Martin

STAMFORD, CT — Mayor David Martin resumed his public COVID-19 briefings on Tuesday night, and indicated some positive trends in Stamford.

When Martin held his last briefing on June 15, Stamford was experiencing around one new COVID-19 case per day. In the weeks since, the delta variant emerged, and the city peaked at 25 cases per day. As of Tuesday, there have been around 13 cases per day on a seven day average.

Because of the spike in August, Martin instituted a vaccine mandate for city employees, and later an indoor mask mandate for residents.

"Since those mandates went into effect, we're showing a trend-line down," Martin said Tuesday.

On the vaccination front, Martin said 77.1 percent of the entire eligible population has at least one dose as of Sept. 22. Martin pointed out that the percentage uses pre-census numbers.

"I'm really proud of this community, and proud of our partners who have helped us get out so many vaccinations," he said.

As of Tuesday, according to Dr. Michael Bernstein, Associate Director of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Stamford Health, there were four COVID-19 patients in the Intermediate Care Unit at Stamford Hospital. Alltogether, there are 10 patients hospitalized, although some might not be hospitalized due to COVID-19, Bernstein said.

Jody Bishop-Pullan, the acting Health Director for Stamford, noted that as of Sept. 24, there were 34 new COVID-19 cases in Stamford Public Schools, which brought the total number of cases since school began in late August to 124.

Since classes resumed, Bishop-Pullan said, there has been an increase in the number of cases among school-aged children mostly because the majority of them are not eligible for the vaccine.

"The number is not coming down quite as quickly as the general population," Bishop-Pullan added. "We want to make sure we're monitoring this very carefully. It's how we make decisions for safety in our schools and implement our strategies."

Bernstein said early on in the pandemic, there were a lot of opinions that COVID-19 wasn't really a pediatric disease.

"I think over the last year-and-a-half, this has sort of been dropped down and taken out of perception," he said. "In Connecticut, pediatric cases account for a significant proportion of disease burden. While they don't account for disease mortality at a very significant rate, I think if we view COVID as a disease about death, we're going to miss the mark on how to control this."

Bernstein said children can be a "reservoir" for the disease, and can in-turn infect others. The best way to combat that is for adults to get vaccinated, until vaccines are authorized for the 5-12 age group, Bernstein said. He anticipates the Food and Drug Administration will take about a month-and-a-half more to grant approval.

"The process is important. These are vaccines that can be given to millions of kids. While I am incredibly anxious to get my kids vaccinated, I also respect the decision the FDA has in place and I think we need to allow them to have a really good analysis of what's going on," Bernstein said.

Currently, booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine are approved for those age 65 and over, longterm care residents, and people 18-64 with underlying conditions and a high risk of exposure. Third dose shots of Pfizer and Moderna are available for immunocompromised people who might not have reached a strong level of immunity after their first two shots.

Dr. Henry Yoon, Stamford's medical advisor, stressed that the vaccines are both safe and effective. He noted that eligible people who want to make an appointment for a booster can contact local pharmacies, or the Stamford Department of Health at 203-276-7300.

Martin will hold COVID-19 briefings on a bi-weekly basis.

"I'm tired of this pandemic. I'm tired of getting out of my car and realizing I forgot my mask and have to go back and get it. I'm tired of putting on these information meetings, but we're going to keep doing it because it's important to keep the community safe," Martin said. "We're beginning to see the numbers decline a little bit in Stamford. I don't know if we're going to get them where we need them to be in a couple of weeks, but hopefully we can put an end to some of our mandates if we can get those numbers down."

For information on testing and vaccination sites in Stamford, click here.