Darien Health Director David Knauf announced Wednesday morning that the town recently appears to be safer than it was from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a significant decline in people who have new, confirmed cases of the disease.
“The medical advisor for the town informed the department yesterday he hasn’t treated a single COVID patient in a month at his private practice,” Knauf said in the news release.
Darien Health Director David Knauf
“Based on this data and similar trends reported in surrounding communities, it seems clear that community transmission has been significantly reduced and risk of Coronavirus illness is significantly lower than it was just a month ago.”
Knauf said the Health Department “will continue to advise and conduct inspections during the reopening process” at restaurants, hair dressing salons, public pools, summer camps and beaches, along with conducting “contact tracing” of new COVID-19 cases, and other activities to lower the risk from the virus.
He added: “In the meantime, please do your part by continuing with social distancing, hand washing and the wearing of face masks because it does appear those measures have made a difference.:
Here’s the entire announcement:
The Darien Health Department has been tracking reported cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The first positive case in a Darien resident was reported on March 4, 2020, and since that time, there have been over 200 positive reports.
As the town reopens for business and we try to achieve some measure of normalcy, illness trends are used to aid in the decision-making process.
These trends are clearly evident in the chart of COVID cases in Darien [below] which is updated weekly and can be found on the Health Department website:
Image from Darien Health Department
Top part of the Health Department COVID-19 chart for this week
Image from Darien Health Department website
Bottom part of the Darien COVID-19 statistics page for this week
As you can see, there has been a significant decline in new cases, with none reported in four days. Over the past two weeks, there have been four reported positive test results; two were residents of an assisted living facility in town that were found when the facility tested ALL residents.
The medical advisor for the gown informed the department yesterday he hasn’t treated a single COVID patient in a month at his private practice. Based on this data and similar trends reported in surrounding communities, it seems clear that community transmission has been significantly reduced and risk of Coronavirus illness is significantly lower than it was just a month ago.
The Health Department will continue to advise and conduct inspections during the reopening process that includes restaurants, hair dressing salons, public pools, summer camps and beaches while conducting “contact tracing” of new COVID cases, providing PPE [personal protective equipment] to local health care practices and planning for fall vaccination clinics.
In the meantime, please do your part by continuing with social distancing, hand washing and the wearing of face masks because it does appear those measures have made a difference.
David
David Knauf, REHS, MS, MPH
Director of Health
Darien