Under Governor Lamont, CT Lead the Nation in COVID Response, Keeping Residents in Long Term Care Facilities Safe
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2022
CONTACT
Onotse Omoyeni
[email protected]
Hartford, CT – In last night’s Gubernatorial Debate, Bob Stefanowski falsely claimed Governor Lamont exposed uninfected nursing home residents to COVID positive patients – but the facts show that Gov. Lamont used a “bold new approach” that was called the “safest” by experts. Experts and news organizations alike lauded Connecticut’s “most successful” vaccine rollout – and in particular credited the state with being “number one” in vaccine distribution in nursing homes.
While Bob Stefanowski uses incorrect (and later corrected) stories to mislead Connecticut – voters know that Governor Lamont’s decisive leadership during the pandemic saved lives.
NBC News 5/11/2022: “This is Really the Safest Approach.”
“Connecticut is among a handful of states to open COVID-19-only facilities that provide an environment specially designed to handle infected patients — and help prevent outbreaks at other nursing homes.”
David Grabowski, Professor at Harvard Medical School called Governor Lamont’s efforts “the Safest Approach.”
“In all of the cases, keeping the patients in a COVID-19-only facility ensures that they will get specialized care and avoid potentially exposing seniors at other nursing homes.”
“Several nursing home operators we spoke with, as well as representatives from assisted living communities, valued CRFs because their own facility was not equipped to provide adequate care for COVID-19 residents and preferred to transfer them to the hospital or another location like a CRF”
“The state’s Unified Command emergency response structure provided the emergency support functions necessary for the state to lease buildings and procure supplies to get CRFs up and running as quickly as possible.”
In distributing PPE, Connecticut placed “the highest priority on nursing homes”.
Well before the governor declared a public health emergency, Connecticut activated its emergency plan and filled many of its critical roles creatively—for example, by using the National Guard to help establish COVID-19 recovery facilities and inspecting nursing homes, and by working with United Way’s 211 center to provide information to and from the public.
CT Mirror prints correction to previously incorrect reporting on Gov. Lamont’s nursing home policy.
“Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the state was ordering nursing homes to accept COVID-positive people who were released from hospitals. The Department of Public Health issued guidance, not an order.” [CT Mirror, 1/6/22]
Experts and news organizations alike lauded Connecticut’s “most successful” vaccine rollout – and in particular credited the state with being “number one” in vaccine distribution in nursing homes.”
Connecticut was among the “most successful vaccine rollouts in the US”. [Beckers Hospital Review, 1/13/21]
“Number one in vaccine distribution in nursing homes and ranked sixth in the country overall,” according to WTNH. [WTNH, 1/4/21]
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