Mayor Leclerc's COVID-19 Update #5
With the impending community transmission of COVID 19, East Hartford was one of the first towns in the greater Hartford area to convert to an ICS (Incident Command System) under NIMS (the National Incident Management System). This was to facilitate a multi-agency, coordinated response to a major threat to the public, wherein a common terminology and military problem-solving structure was put into place. This system is overseen by a Unified Command, comprised of the Mayor, the Fire and Police Chiefs, and the Directors of Public Works and Public Health.
Under ICS, our departments assist the Joint Information Center (JIC) in the formulation of public messages regarding COVID situational awareness, safety and non-pharmaceutical interventions.
We are handling dozens of contact investigations; counselling those who tested positive, determining self-isolation time frames and informing and assuring the worried well.
The Health Department is conducting extensive input, tracking and epidemiological analyses under the CT Electronic Disease Surveillance System.
The department is facilitating infection control and outbreak containment efforts and mitigation measures.
The department is advising and assisting with the sanitization of public facilities.
We’ve coordinated with the School System regarding school closure (2nd in the greater Hartford area) and provided guidance with the BOE network configuration of its 10 feeding sites. To date Superintendent Nate Quesnel, school meal contractor Sodexo and staff have distributed 42,077 brown bag pick-up school breakfasts and lunches for its largely low-income students. They are currently averaging 2,400 meals per day.
Our Food Share Distributions in the public housing projects and our Emergency Food Bank System continue to be administered, using prepared parcels for pick-up and incorporating social distancing and other protective practices. Volunteer assistance, contributions and participation rates have been remarkable.
Our WIC Program (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants and Children) has been restructured to operate remotely, using state-configured lap top computers. Our 10-person staff now conducts enrollments, eligibility recertification, electronic benefits transfer and nutrition education to 3,405 low-income women and children throughout our 19-town service area. Our participation rate has jumped from an average of 75% to 91%, since program participants do not have to come into the main office or our satellites. Many lessons are being learned from these COVID 19 experiences that may help us to operate leaner and more efficiently going into the future (similar to many innovations that came about during wartime).
Our Social Services Division has been assisting End Hunger Connecticut with the enrollment of families into the SNAP (Food Stamp) Program as the former agency approximated 350 calls on hold at any given time.
The Health and Social Services Department has been advising and referring recently-furloughed or dismissed workers looking to apply for unemployment compensation and other relief programs.
Our Senior Center, through the Community Renewal team and volunteers, is distributing pick-up meals to hundreds of seniors per week.
The Health Department continues to inspect food service establishments for public health code compliance with food preparation and handling protocols, screening for sick employees, return-to-work policy adherence and social distancing practices. Our Inspectors also contact food retailers for these reasons and to inquire about the adequacy of their respective supply chains and the availability of goods.
The Town continues to respond to public health nuisances, sources of filth and building complaints that pose imminent threats to safety or quality-of-life.
The Police and Health Departments are enforcing the Governor’s and Mayor’s orders relative to social distancing, certain business closures and proper restaurant operation. We’ve been troubleshooting and spot-correcting violations as they are observed or reported by concerned citizens.
The Health Department is coordinating with first responders – reporting the addresses of patients that tested positive for COVID-19 while maintaining medical confidentiality. This allows Police and Fire Officers and EMTs to take extra precautions if they have to respond to the foregoing addresses. We had a similar system in place during the Ebola outbreak when travelers from the affected countries came to East Hartford.
The Town has been attentive to its vulnerable populations. East Hartford has 16 Elderly and Disabled Housing Complexes – 11 under the aegis of the Housing Authority and 5 private complexes. They represent an aggregate vulnerable population of approximately 1,600 people. We contacted and coordinated with the management elements of all of them to ensure that they posted, mass mailed and door-delivered precautionary, social distancing and personal protection messages to all tenants. We had them ensure that custodial staff effected frequent sanitization of hand railings door knobs, elevators, laundry rooms and commonly-touched surfaces. We also asked them to encourage the voluntary restriction or at least minimization of visitors and to report any patterns of sickness of tenants to the Health Department. In addition to these foregoing complexes, we note our concern that nearly 40% of East Hartford’s population are apartment dwellers – living in close-quarter conditions.
The Health Department, with the assistance of the Public Works and Police Departments, is preparing to distribute Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from the Strategic National Stockpile to Acute Care, Dialysis, Home Health Care and other front line agencies that serve the vulnerable.
The Town is also planning the mass distribution of medical countermeasures (i.e. vaccine or antivirals) when they become available. The Health Department has been drilling for this for years and have practiced mass vaccination on an annual basis with its Influenza Clinics.
East Hartford’s COVID 19 Unified Command is working in earnest to ensure the health of our residents and to ensure, despite the Pandemic, that the apparatus of local government carries-out crucial services that keep our people safe. The show must go on. Police and Fire forces have to keep order and protect the public, trash must be removed, roads must be traversable, safe water must be provided, sewage requires disposal, records must be kept, bills must be paid, parks and public facilities must be maintained, and sick or injured citizens must be stabilized and transported to the hospitals. Mass illness will derail these efforts. Our hospitals and health care system must not be overwhelmed. We hope to overcome COVID 19 and to accomplish these critical tasks through the public’s cooperation and their commitment to the greater good.
Know that the team comprising our COVID 19 Unified Command is an experienced, battle-hardened collection of individuals. We have a Mayor that came on board during the Storm Alfred and Sandy weather-related disasters when the Town suffered extensive damage and extended power outages. She was a quick study and readily mastered the art of Emergency Management and Recovery Operations. We have a Fire Chief and a Police Chief that have managed emergency situations on a daily basis for decades – they were born for the positions in which they serve. We have a Health Director who is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a Public Works Director who is an Army general. These folks are experienced, knowledgeable, creative, tough and amazing. It has always been an honor to work with them and it’s been a joy to work with my smarter / younger / good-natured departmental team mates. The most important partners in this team, however, are the citizens of East Hartford. I am genuinely astounded by the countless acts of selflessness, compassion, forbearance and voluntarism that I have witnessed during this challenge.
The face of East Hartford is the face of America. Kind hearts and helping hands have ensured that newcomers were always welcomed here. East Hartford is the workplace of Connecticut and of our nation. It is a place of innovators, skilled workers, and proud labor. We may appear a little rough around the edges but we bear no shame in embracing this identity. Thousands of Connecticut residents have purchased their first home or started their careers here. With its industry and educational institutions, East Hartford is still a place of beginnings and a cradle of opportunity. New faces and new accents affirm the foregoing qualities of our community character. I am a native of East Hartford and I’ve either lived or worked here for my entire life. I’ve never walked away from a good fight and at the risk of sounding cliché, “reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated”. I am still here and still serving as Health Director until the smoke clears.