COVID-19 Update, Jan. 15: Vaccine Registration, Phase 1B, Vaccine & Case Data

• By phone:  The phone option is only available for residents who are age 75 and up. If you are helping a resident aged 75 and up and you are younger than 75, you are asked not to use the phone option. The state-sponsored phone number to call is 877.918.2224. Phone service is available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please expect delays; there is a call-back option for anyone who doesn’t want to wait on hold.
• Online:  Registration and appointments are made through the CDC’s online Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS). (Vanderslice provided registration tips in her update on Wednesday.)

Hospitals and clinics will also be reaching out to patients to schedule appointments. Immediate appointments are unlikely.

Wilton’s Social Services Department is ready to help anyone who has questions or needs help with the registration process. Contact Director of Social Services Sarah Heath or Social Services/Senior Center Coordinator Stephanie Rowe.

There are 100 locations across the state administering vaccines. All are by appointment only. As vaccines become more available, the State will be setting up mass vaccination sites, the first of which will open next week in Hartford. Local health districts, including Wilton’s, will continue to focus on vaccinating essential frontline personnel.

Other groups in Phase 1B:  On Thursday, the Governor confirmed membership of Phase 1.b. as recommended by his Vaccine Advisory Group and reported in previous updates. Information about prioritization and possible timelines for those groups is expected next week.

There is no current pre-registration for these groups. CT DPH will announce when registration can begin. That timing will be impacted by the supply of vaccines and the number of residents aged 75 and up who choose to be vaccinated. Residents eligible because of increased medical risk will need to provide proof of their condition in a form to be determined.

[Thursday], Wilton’s Health Department and Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Fairfield County held a Phase 1.a. vaccination clinic. This clinic was more similar to a stand-up testing center, as the town did in December, rather than the town’s drive-thru flu clinic in the fall. Again, personnel from numerous town departments collaborated together and with Visiting Nurse and Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps to produce a successful and professional vaccine clinic.

Vaccine and Case Data

As of Thursday morning, the CDC reported the following data regarding vaccines:

• Connecticut:  328,675 doses of vaccines delivered, 171,897 doses administered, of which 16,041 were second doses. Connecticut continues to be a top tier state in terms of the percentage of the population vaccinated and delivered doses administered.
• Nationwide, 30.6 million vaccines had been delivered and 11.1 million first doses administered.

The following is data, as of 8:30 p.m. Thursday night, from the day’s CT DPH report versus Wednesday’s Jan. 13 report:

• Wilton:  3 new cases reported. 694 cases pandemic-to-day (PTD)
• Statewide:  968 new cases.  4.37% of the 22,171 new tests reported were positive.  221,544 cases PTD.
• Fairfield County:  226 new cases.  65,226 cases PTD.
• Hospitalized Patients:  Statewide, 1,118 with a 30-net patient decrease. Fairfield County, 243 with a 24-net patient decrease.
• Deaths:  Statewide, 6,553 with 17 new deaths.  Fairfield County, 1,825 with 4 new deaths.  Wilton, 45, with no new deaths.