Monthly Archives: April 2021

FloGris Museum Offers ‘Forest Bathing/Mindfulness’ Event Along ‘The Artists’ Trail,’ Tomorrow

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Jon a Forest Bathing/Mindfulness Event along the Artist’s Trail at the Florence Griswold Museum, Saturday. Photo by Ian Dobbins.

OLD LYME — Awaken your senses tomorrow, Saturday, April 17, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. through a guided ‘Forest Bathing’ mindfulness experience along the Florence Griswold Museum’s Artists’ Trail. The session feature slow walking, sensory immersion, and experiential sharing. This event will be held rain or shine (dress accordingly).

Face masks and physical distancing required.

Forest Therapy fosters a reconnection with nature through a slow-paced walk, punctuated with invitations that open your senses to engage with the natural world. As a certified Forest Therapy Guide, Regan Stacey designs and facilitates forest bathing experiences to be in rhythm with the seasonal landscape, thus offering you an optimum opportunity to reconnect to nature and yourself.

Stacey is an artist, environmentalist, and the founder of Awaken the Forest Within, a nature-connected practice that reconnects humans to nature to heal themselves, their communities, and the earth.

Stacey holds a BS in biology from the Pennsylvania State University and an MFA from Lesley University. She lives among the hills and forests of Lyme, Conn.

Visit this link to learn more about this nature-centered experience.

The fee for this event is $40 for Museum members and $45 for non-members. Reservations are required.

Questions? Call the Front Desk at (860) 434-5542 ext. 111, or frontdesk@flogris.org.

To visit the Museum the same day, Forest Bathing participants must book a separate admission ticket, selecting “Be Our Guest” as the ticket type. Proceed all the way through the admission booking process — the total will be $0 but must be booked and confirmed separately from the Forest Bathing ticket.

April 13 COVID-19 Update: Lyme Hits 100 Cumulative Cases, Old Lyme Holds at 324

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Transmission electron microscopic image of an isolate from the first U.S. case of COVID-19. Photo courtesy of the CDC.

LYME/OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report for Connecticut issued Tuesday, April 13, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT-DPH) for data as at 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 12, shows that two new cases were reported in Lyme taking its cumulative total of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began to 100.

Meanwhile, Old Lyme again reported a total of 324 cases reflecting no new cases in its cumulative total of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began compared with the number reported for Sunday, April 11.

These Daily Reports are not issued by CT DPH on Saturday or Sundays and therefore Monday’s data includes new cases from both weekend days.

Lyme – Cumulative Cases Up Two

The Daily Data Report issued Tuesday, April 13, shows Lyme has a cumulative total (since the outbreak began) of 92 confirmed cases and 8 probable cases, making a TOTAL of 100 cases.

This represents an INCREASE of TWO in the cumulative number of confirmed cases and NO CHANGE in the number of probable cases compared with those reported Monday, April 12.

The total number of Lyme residents tested is 1,364, an increase of two over the previous day’s number of 1,362.

Old Lyme – No Change in Cumulative Cases

The Daily Data Report issued Tuesday, April 13, shows that Old Lyme has a cumulative total (since the outbreak began) of 316 confirmed COVID-19 cases and EIGHT probable cases, making a TOTAL of 324 cases. This number, however, reflects an increase of seven cases since last Thursday.

This represents NO CHANGE in the cumulative number of confirmed or probable cases compared with those reported Monday, April 12.

The total number of Old Lyme residents tested is 5,043, an increase of 13 over the previous day’s number of 5,030.

Two-Week New Case Rates Show Marginal Improvement for State, Local Towns

The number of towns in the state in the Red (highest) Zone for two-week new case rates has fallen from 146 last week to 142 this week. Old Lyme, which last week was in the Red Zone, is now one of the 10 towns in the Orange (second highest) Zone.

Lyme remains in the Gray Zone for two-week case rates, recording a fourth straight week in the lowest zone. Thirteen towns were in this zone last week and that number is the same this week. (Four zones are specified by the CT DPH — see details below.)

Overall, the number of towns in each zone is shown below with the previous week’s number in parentheses:

  • 13 (13) towns are now in the (lowest case rate) Gray Zone
  • 4 (2) are in the (lowest but one) Yellow Zone
  • 10 (8) are in the (second highest case rate) Orange Zone.

All the remaining 142 towns are in the Red Zone.

Lyme joins 12 other towns in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone: Ashford, Canaan, Chaplin, Chester, Cornwall, Eastford, Franklin, Hampton, New Canaan, Norfolk, Scotland, and Warren.

The Yellow (second lowest rate) Zone now has four towns: Essex, Lisbon, Salem and Willington.

Old Lyme joins nine other towns in the Orange (second highest rate) Zone : Barkhamsted, Canton, East Lyme, Pomfret, Sharon, Simsbury, Stafford, Stonington, and Waterford.

  • The gray category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is less than five or less than five reported cases.
  • The yellow category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is between five and nine reported cases.
  • The orange category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is between 10 and 14.
  • The red category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town exceeds 15.

In all cases, this rate does not include cases or tests among residents of nursing home, assisted living, or correctional facilities.

This report is issued daily, but only updated weekly on Thursdays. The most recent report was updated Thursday, April 8; the next updated report will be issued in the afternoon of Thursday, April 15.

More Detail on Two-Week Case Rates

Ledge Light Health Director Stephen Mansfield

On Thursday, April 8, Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) also issued their latest weekly report of COVID data for the municipalities within their District. Ledge Light Director of Health Stephen Mansfield prefaces the report with the comment, “We continue to see relatively steady case numbers within our jurisdiction. Our contact tracers report clusters associated with daycares, schools, and workplaces, and transmissions linked to social gatherings and sporting events.”

He stresses, however, “Although we are making great strides with our COVID vaccination program, it is still imperative that we remain diligent in our mitigation strategies.”

The latest two-week case rates announced Thursday, April 8 (from 3/21 to 4/3) have decreased in both Lyme and Old Lyme.

The two-week case rates are as follows:

  • Old Lyme from 15.5 to 12.6
  • Lyme from 12.2 to 9.2

The same report shows that the case numbers in Week 1 and Week 2 respectively and recorded for the period 3/21 to 4/3  (compared with the previous two-week case rate for 3/14 to 3/27 shown in parentheses) are as follows:

  • Lyme had 2 (2) cases in Week 1 and 1 (2) in Week 2
  • Old Lyme had 9 (7) cases in Week 1 and 4 (9) in Week 2

This data was updated April 8, 2021. The next Ledge Light Weekly Data Report for its District will be issued in the afternoon of Thursday, April 15.

Vaccination Rates

At the request of several readers, we have started a new section reflecting the status of community vaccination rates in Lyme and Old Lyme. The data is taken from the COVID-19 Vaccinations by Town report published by CT-DPH, which is published roughly weekly.

Lyme is now ahead of Old Lyme in terms of the percentage of its total population that have received a first dose, with 54.36 percent vaccinated compared with 48.63 percent in Old Lyme.

The percentages for both towns for the age segments 65-74 and 75+ are very encouraging with Lyme now having 105.47 percent of seniors 75 and above having received their first dose and 95.09 percent of the same age segment having received it in Old Lyme.

The detailed data below is the most recent and was updated April 1.

Old Lyme
Total population:  7,306
Estimated population age 65-74:  1,067
Estimated population age 75 and above:  794

[table id=12 /]

Lyme
Total population:  2,316
Estimated population age 65-74:  372
Estimated population age 75 and above:  274

[table id=11 /]

Three Fatalities in Old Lyme Since Pandemic Began, None in Lyme

According to the report mentioned above, there have now been THREE fatalities in Old Lyme. Asked Tuesday, Feb. 9, for details of this third fatality, Ledge Light Health Department Director of Health Stephen Mansfield responded, “We have not been notified of any recent deaths in Old Lyme. Keep in mind that that report is compiled by the Connecticut Department of Public Health; deaths are not reportable to local health districts.”

He added, “I can’t speak for their data sources.”

The two fatalities from Old Lyme previously reported in 2020 were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.

No fatalities have been reported in Lyme.

Connecticut Hospital Occupancy

At the request of several readers, we added a new report showing the respective rates of hospital occupancy at local hospitals. The data for this report is obtained from the Connecticut Hospital Occupancy Report published weekly by the CT DPH and extracted from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) facility-level data for hospital utilization aggregated on a weekly basis (Friday to Thursday).

Since the most recent report is dated Feb. 19 and no subsequent updates have been issued, we have discontinued publishing this report until a new update is issued.

Editor’s Note: The state issues a COVID-19 metric report daily around 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, which includes current data up to the previous evening. In light of the ongoing rise in Coronavirus cases, we publish a new weekday update reporting confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Lyme and Old Lyme. 

All Welcome to Free Presentation via Zoom on Pollinator-Friendly Lawns, Tonight; Hosted by ‘Pollinate Old Lyme!’

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Learn how to create a pollinator-friendly lawn on Wednesday with Tom Christopher. Photo by Petar Tonchev on Unsplash.

OLD LYME — Zoom signups are now open for a free presentation on Pollinator-Friendly Lawns with Tom Christopher. All are welcome to the presentation, which begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14.

Email PollinateOldLyme@gmail.com to request the Zoom link.

Pollinate Old Lyme! presents gardener, author, and podcast host Tom Christopher. Christopher will give practical advice about sustainable lawns, including different grasses, clover and grass mixes, how to reduce chemical inputs and change mowing practices.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A.
A graduate of the New York Botanical Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture, Christopher has spent the last 45 years designing and tending gardens, authoring and editing gardening books, magazine features and giving talks. Most recently he launched the Growing Greener weekly podcast. Having lived for years in Middletown, Conn., Christopher and his wife Suzanne now do most of their gardening in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts.
Learn more about Christopher at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com

Old Lyme Historical Society Presents Lecture Tonight on Life, Challenges of CT Dairy Farmers Through Generations

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OLD LYME — On Wednesday, April 14 at 7 p.m., the Old Lyme Historical Society hosts the second lecture in its Spring Series when Markham Starr presents via Zoom, “Down on the Farm: The Last Dairy Farms of North Stonington.’

At the end of WWII, there were over 4,000 dairy farms in Connecticut. Currently there are less than 100 farms still making milk commercially. This talk follows the operation of four family-owned farms though the course of a year.

The earliest farm dating back to 1791 is now in its eighth generation, while the youngest two are both over 100-years-old.

The talk covers what it takes to get a gallon of milk onto the store’s shelves and the particular challenges of dairy-farmers face today in Connecticut.

For log-in information to this virtual presentation, email the OLHS.

SECWAC Presents Notre Dame Professor Hunt Botting on ‘The Politics of Epidemics’ in Zoom Presentation, Tonight; All Welcome, Pre-registration Required

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Eileen Hunt Botting (Photo by Peter Ringenberg/University of Notre Dame)

LYME/OLD LYME — On Wednesday, April 14, at 6 p.m., the Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council (SECWAC) hosts Eileen Hunt Botting of the University of Notre Dame, who will discuss, “The Politics of Epidemics, from Thucydides to Mary Shelley to COVID-19,” in a Zoom presentation.

Registration required. The link to join the program will be emailed with your registration confirmation.

Botting will review our perceptions of pandemics through the writings of Greek historian and general Thucydides (of “The History of the Peloponnesian War” fame), Mary Shelley (of “Frankenstein” and “The Last Man” fame), and more contemporary writers like Mike Davis (“The Monster at Our Door” and “The Monster Enters”).

In her recent essay in “Current History”, Professor Botting points out that plague has been “depicted as escalating within wider and deeper patterns of human social and political conflict”, arguing that “we ought to pause and consider the responses of past thinkers to the contagions that beset them”.

In this way, perhaps, we may, to paraphrase Georges Santayana, avoid repeating past mistakes by learning from history, rather than being condemned to repeat it.

You can access her essay HERE.

Cost: Free for members, guests $20.

SECWAC will be using Zoom meetings for this presentation. https://scwac.wildapricot.org/event-4232302

If you are new to Zoom virtual meetings and would like to learn more about how to join SECWAC, visit zoom.us for more information. Also, feel free to call 860-912-5718 for technical advice prior to the event. SECWAC will not be able to resolve issues during the meeting. A link to the recording will be shared via email following the meeting.