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June 26, 2020

As virus toll wanes in state, what about economic cost?

HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever State Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe
By Michael C. Bingham

Connecticut has had significant success managing and lately mitigating the worst epidemiological impacts of the coronavirus pandemic — especially compared to many southern and western U.S. states now tracking resurgences of COVID.

In terms of the economic impacts, not so much.

That was the consensus of a Thursday morning discussion presented by the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce for businesses. The session was titled: “Where We Stand on the Virus: Updates on Protecting Your Employees & Customers.” The session was moderated by GNHCC President and CEO Garrett Sheehan.

First came the good news: Statewide, COVID hospitalizations had fallen to around 120 as of late Wednesday, reported Steven Choi, MD, vice president and chief quality officer of the Yale New Haven Health System. “That’s an incredible testament to what our community has done in terms of adherence to the guidance that the governor’s office and all the health systems around the state have endorsed” — social distancing, mask-wearing, sanitizing, etc., Choi said. “Without that we would not have had the success that we’re continuing to see.”

Heading into the summer months, “We’re pretty confident that the weather, [people] being outside does seem to be a factor in mitigating transmission,” Choi added. Many public-health officials feared a post-Memorial Day spike in COVID cases as more people venture outdoors and congregate in public spaces such as beaches and parks. That spike hasn’t happened (yet), he said.

Panelist Josh Geballe is the state’s chief operating officer and has been Gov. Ned Lamont’s point person on state government’s response since the COVID crisis exploded the second week of March.

Today, Connecticut is in “a good place” with regard to managing the crisis, Geballe said. “The metrics have come down dramatically: We’re now at about 1.4% test-positivity over the past seven days,” a rate “among the lowest in the nation. The rate of transmission is also one of the lowest in the nation.”

However, Geballe noted: “COVID is not gone from Connecticut” — statewide some  100 people test positive on average each day. “This is a disease that is not going to go to zero until we have a vaccine or other [medical] interventions,” he added. “We hope people don’t get complacent.”

While fewer state residents are getting sick than at any time since the crisis began, Connecticut’s economy remains in intensive care. As of June 17, Geballe noted, “We’re at a point where we have about 95% of the economy able to be open. We’re not operating at that level now because there are a lot of restrictions on capacity” for businesses including restaurants, retailers and other public accommodations.

“We’re trying to maintain a balance between keeping the virus at as low a transmission level as possible, but still enable people to get back to work and enable businesses to mitigate some of the challenges that they’ve experienced over the last several months,” said Geballe. “These are the most difficult decisions and tradeoffs the governor has had to make.”

Geballe defended Lamont by noting that Connecticut allowed more business sectors — notably manufacturing and construction — to remain open as “essential” industries than did many other states.

The economic “challenges” that have confronted Connecticut businesses as a result of the shutdown are well documented and vigorously debated. But what about the challenges of reopening now to the public — with endangering employees or customers?

According to Choi, the most effective preventive measures are at this point well known by most employers and employees — but require continuous and consistent reinforcement to guard against complacency.

Wearing a mask in every public encounter tops the prevention list, Choi said. “But hand hygiene is absolutely critical, too,” he added. Choi does not recommend the wearing of gloves, as they discourage the wearer from continuing to clean his/her hands and can themselves transmit infectious particles.

For businesses such as retailers that accommodate large numbers of active and mobile shoppers, Choi recommended clear demarcation of spaces for both moving (one-way aisles) and standing (checkout lines) to enforce social distancing.

On the proactive front, Choi recommended that companies screen employees for the virus, including conducting temperature checks twice a day. If a worker has a temperature of 100 degrees or higher, the employee should be sent home and not return to the workplace until at least three days after the temperature has returned to normal levels, Choi said.

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1 Comments

Anonymous
June 26, 2020

The state has been incredibly lazy about how guidance and regulations for COVID are developed. It is as if none of the State employees who normally deal with business such as health inspections for restaurants are involved at all! The attitude is one of nobless oblige towards business rather than an attitude of we want you to succeed while minimizing infection risk. I've had to compare many state programs in my companies role of a critical infrastructure service nationwide and CT's are among the worst with regard to clarity and practicality.

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