Simsbury COVID Data - Week Ending August 28, 2021

While the municipal executive order requiring the use of face coverings in indoor settings for everyone regardless of vaccination status remains in place, the Town Manager’s Office will share weekly updates regarding COVID data through the Town website and social media.

Throughout the pandemic, the Town Manager has been reporting on case and vaccination data regularly through the Town Manager’s Report.  To receive those reports, as well as other Town news and announcements, visit https://www.simsbury-ct.gov/subscriber and select “Town News and Announcements.”

The Farmington Valley Health District (FVHD) also provides weekly updates, which can be viewed here: https://fvhd.org/covid-19-information/fvhd-covid-data/

CDC Data Tracking
The ten towns comprising the Farmington Valley Health District constitute “substantial” risk (FVHD is at 91.9 cases per 100,000) for levels of community transmission based on CDC definitions, while Hartford County and the state of Connecticut remain at “high” risk. In areas with substantial transmission or higher, the CDC recommends that everyone (including fully vaccinated individuals) wear a mask in public indoor settings to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Local Data Tracking
In addition to the CDC levels of community transmission (low, moderate, substantial, high), the state Department of Public Health has a municipal COVID alert system (grey, yellow, orange and red).  Red is the highest level of alert on the municipal alert system, with grey being the lowest.  For data as of August 28th, the Town has been at the orange alert level, the second highest alert level for three consecutive weeks. The previous two-week period the Town was at yellow alert. Comparatively, for ten consecutive weeks from May 2nd through July 11th, the Town had very few positive COVID cases and remained at the lowest level of alert, grey.

Next Steps
The Town Manager has consulted with FVHD regarding a metric that we can work towards in regards to removing the municipal executive order. FVHD and other health districts in the capitol region are currently working to establish a metric that can be used to rescind the municipal executive order.  In the event that the Governor issues a state-wide or regional masking executive order, that order would supersede the municipal executive order.

Throughout the pandemic the Town has carefully balanced the needs of our residents, patrons, business community and our workforce to ensure that 1) we are able to keep our stakeholders safe and healthy to the extent practicable and 2) that our essential services and critical infrastructure remains open and fully operational. In doing so we have closely followed public health advice issued by the CDC, FVHD and the State Department of Public Health.

During the week of August 16th, the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) and the Southeast Council of Governments issued statements and advocated for the Governor to issue a state-wide masking requirement.  At this time 11 other towns within our regional council of governments (CRCOG) have instituted local mask mandates. FVHD has encouraged the towns within our health district to implement indoor mask wearing while FVHD is at substantial or high level of community transmission.

We appreciate the cooperation and patience of everyone in the community as we continue to adapt to the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

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