Monthly Archives: December 2021

Update on Those State-Funded COVID-19 Self-Tests

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OLD LYME — Asked when Old Lyme residents might expect distribution of the COVID-19 tests promised at the start of the week by Connecticut Gov. Lamont and anticipated to be in resident’s hands by today, Old Lyme Emergency Department Director David Roberge gave LymeLine.com an update in a phone call earlier today [Friday, Dec. 31.]

He said, “[Following Gov. Lamont’s announcement of a delay in the shipment of the tests from California,] we have not received any correspondence or communications from the state [regarding when the COVID-19 self-tests might be delivered to Old Lyme] as of 12:09 p.m. today [Dec.31.]”

He added, “We are fully prepared to respond with distribution [of the tests to Old Lyme residents] when we receive the product. We are just waiting for notification and will be ready for action.”

Roberge also committed to inform Lymeline.com of any updates he receives from the state.

‘Old Lyme (Formerly Christiansen) Hardware’ Starts New Year With New Name, New Owners, New Hours!

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Old Lyme’s newest female business owner, Jessie Talerico, stands with her father, Richard, in the former Christiansen Hardware, now known as Old Lyme Hardware. The store will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. starting tomorrow,  Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. All photos by Suzanne Thompson.

OLD LYME — Transitions are underway this week at Christiansen – make that Old Lyme – Hardware, as previous 26-year owners Bill and Nancy Christiansen hand off the keys to the Talerico family.

“Keeping it COVID!” A celebratory elbow-bump marks the official hand-over of the business from current store owner Nancy Christiansen (left) to new principal owner Jessie Talerico. The Christiansens have owned and operated the store for the past 26 years, but it was held in Nancy’s name following Bill’s official ‘retirement.’

Starting tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, Old Lyme Hardware will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, to see what are the optimal hours to be open for customers and while initial renovations are underway. A soft re-opening is planned for March.

With a background in hospitality and restaurants, Jessie, and her father Richard, who continues working in construction in Connecticut, are looking for Old Lyme Hardware to help customers find solutions – whether it’s tracking down an exotic drawer pull, fixing a screen or window or ordering a special part.

Jessica (Jessie) Talerica will be the new face of the business, getting to know her customers and helping them find what they are looking for in the store.

The new owners have already come up with ideas for original offerings and activities involving other local businesses – from a Saturday morning Coffee with a Handyman, to reconfiguring the back of the store to accommodate a garden center section. They welcome carrying plants grown by local wholesalers, too.

Stop by and say hi to the new owners and let them know what you’re looking for in a local hardware store. They are keen to meet the community’s needs.

It’s a family affair! A photo on the wall of Old Lyme Hardware pictures its new owners, the Talerico’s, from left to right, Jonathan, who is Jessie’s brother and a policeman in Michigan, father Richard, who works in construction in Connecticut, and Jessie who will be running the store.

In coming weeks, keep an eye out for a 1952 Ford F1 Old Lyme Hardware pick-up truck in the parking lot, watch for decorative indoor changes that harken back to hardware stores of the past, and watch carefully to see what else transpires in Old Lyme’s newest ‘old’ business.

Editor’s Note: Many readers will remember Bill Christiansen not only from Christiansen Hardware but also as a talented guitar played (he took up the instrument at age 12) and long-time member of the popular ‘String of Pearls’ band. 

 

 

 

 

New Year Holiday Closings in Lyme, Old Lyme

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Lyme Town Hall

LYME/OLD LYME — The following closures have been announced in observance of the New Year Holiday by the Towns of Lyme and Old Lyme respectively.

Lyme Town Hall will close at noon on Thursday, Dec. 30, and be closed all day Friday, Dec. 31, in observance of the New Year’s holiday.

The Lyme Transfer Station will be closed Jan. 1, New Year’s Day.

The Hamburg Recycling Center and Lyme Public Library will be closed Friday, Dec. 31, and Saturday, Jan. 1.

Old Lyme Town Hall and the Old Lyme Transfer Station will be closed Friday, Dec. 31.

No Test Distribution Today in Old Lyme (Roberge); Lamont Announces Delay in Arrival of COVID-19 Tests; Both Lyme, OL Cancel Planned Test Distributions

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LYME/OLD LYME — UPDATED 12/30: Old Lyme Emergency Department Director David Roberge told LymeLine in a phone call earlier this morning, “There will definitely be no distribution of COVID-19 tests in Old Lyme today.”

He added that there was no clear timeline at this point as to when the tests will be received either at Hartford’s Bradley airport or, in turn, locally.

State representatives, with whom he is in touch regularly, have advised they will keep local officials across the state apprised as to where the shipment is and Roberge committed to keep us here at LymeLine updated as well.

In a statement issued yesterday (Dec. 29), Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced, “Due to shipping and warehouse delays outside of the State of Connecticut’s control, our state’s anticipated shipment of COVID-19 at-home rapid tests are currently delayed from arriving in Connecticut.”

He continued, “My staff and multiple state agencies have spent the past several days working around the clock to accelerate the movement of our tests through what is clearly a shipping and distribution bottleneck on the West Coast amid unprecedented international demand for tests.”

Old Lyme Emergency Department Director David Roberge explained to LymeLine that the town is, “on top of the situation,” and will inform residents as soon as supplies are received and pick up from the Town Hall can be rescheduled.

Lyme Selectman John Kiker also confirmed to LymeLine that Lyme’s planned distribution on Friday of COVID tests to Lyme residents is now cancelled due the delay.

LymeLine will publish any updates to the situation in either town as soon as they are received.

Dec. 29 COVID-19 Update: CT’s Positivity Rate Reaches 18%; Five New Cases Take Old Lyme’s Cumulative Total to 612, Two New Cases in Lyme Raise Its Total to 160

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash,

LYME-OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report issued Wednesday, Dec. 29, at 4 p.m. by the Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH) shows 5 new, confirmed COVID-19 case in Old Lyme taking the town’s total of cumulative cases to 612.

Two new cases were reported in Lyme, taking that town’s cumulative total to 160.

The next report from CT DPH will be issued Thursday, Dec. 30, at around 4 p.m.

Yesterday’s report showed more than 1,000 patients hospitalized due to COVID (the actual number was 1,113 ) and a positivity rate of almost 18% (the actual number was 17.78%.)

Only the day before (Dec. 28), an article by Alex Putterman published in the Hartford Courant reported that, “Connecticut blew past its previous record for COVID-19 positivity rate … for a daily rate of 14.98%. Previously, the state hadn’t reported a positivity rate higher than 11% on any given day since widespread testing began in spring 2020.”

As we reported in our Thursday, Dec. 23 weekly COVID-19 Update, Lyme and Old Lyme both remain in the Red Zone in the weekly COVID-19 Average Daily Case Rate Report issued by the state on that day. The CT DPH will issue an updated map of the zones Thursday, Dec. 30 — the map is updated weekly on Thursdays.

The number of towns statewide in the Red (highest) COVID Daily Case Rate Zone is now 166 out of 169. In contrast, the number of towns in the Red Zone on Oct. 7, 2021 was down to 37.

All the towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) are in the Red Zone.

*Here are some significant extracts from the Dec. 22 CT DPH report:

  • Of the 821 patients currently hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, 619 (75.4%) are not fully vaccinated.
  • The percent of fully vaccinated persons, who have contracted COVID-19 is 1.43%
  • For the week beginning Dec. 5, 2021, unvaccinated persons had a 5.5x greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated persons.
  • For the week beginning Dec. 5, 2021, unvaccinated persons had a 20.1x greater risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated persons.
  • Data on COVID-19 associated deaths is updated once per week every Thursday. The most recently reported total number of deaths is 9,002.

The cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 169 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443 — that number had stood unchanged for a week since the previous Thursday, Nov. 4.

On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 240 new cases there since that date. Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 46 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.

In an email sent Thursday, Dec. 23, regarding the latest COVID-19 data, Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) Director of Health Stephen Mansfield stated, “We continue to see a high number of new COVID cases within our jurisdiction, which is consistent with an increase in COVID cases statewide. Unfortunately, we expect this trend to continue as we move into the holiday season.”

He added, “LLHD continues to focus our vaccination efforts on homebound populations and providing initial vaccinations and boosters to individuals who were vaccinated previously. Information about vaccination opportunities can be found at https://llhd.org/coronavirus-covid-19-situation/covid-19-vaccine/

COVID-19 Cases in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools

This is the latest information that we have with the most recent case first — there may have been further updates, however, which we have not yet received.

On Tuesday, Dec. 21, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS) had been reported.

On Monday, Dec. 20, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) had been reported.

On Monday, Dec. 13, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Thursday, Dec. 9, Neviaser informed the school community that a total of three positive cases of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS), Center School, and Lyme School respectively had been reported.

On Monday, Dec. 6, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS had been reported.

On Friday, Dec. 3, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Center School had been reported.

On Monday, Nov. 30, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Monday, Nov. 29, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Tuesday, Nov. 23, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Monday, Nov. 22, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Thursday, Nov. 18, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Wednesday, Nov. 17, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Sunday, Nov. 14, Neviaser informed the school community that over the weekend a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Wednesday, Oct. 20, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Wednesday, Oct. 5, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported the previous evening.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, Neviaser informed the school community of two intrafamilial positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS. He stated, “We were able to complete our contact tracing and the one individual who must quarantine has been notified.”

On Thursday, Sept. 23, Neviaser informed the school community of two intrafamilial positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS. He noted, “We were able to complete our contact tracing and the one individual who must quarantine has been notified.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 22, Neviaser informed the school community of a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS.

On Thursday, Sept. 16, Neviaser informed the school community that a previously reported positive case of COVID-19 is now impacting Mile Creek School and Center School.

On Monday, Sept. 13, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19,  which had been reported the previous day, was impacting LOLMS.

On Wednesday, Sept. 1, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 was impacting Mile Creek School.

On Tuesday, Aug. 31, Neviaser informed the school community that late on Monday, Aug. 30, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Saturday, Aug. 28, Neviaser informed the school community that late on Friday, Aug. 27, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme School had been reported.

In all cases, contact tracing was completed and those individuals who needed to quarantine were notified. They will be able to return to school following their quarantine period. All other students and staff will continue to attend school as scheduled.

Fatalities Due to COVID-19 in Lyme, Old Lyme

There has been one COVID-related fatality of a Lyme resident: a 57-year-old male passed away Nov. 16, 2021. On Nov. 30, the state finally included this fatality in its data

Three COVID-related fatalities have been reported in Old Lyme. The first two fatalities from Old Lyme, which were reported in 2020, were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.

Details of the third, which was reported in 2021, have not been made available.