Category Archives: COVID-19

New London, Fairfield Counties in Yellow/Medium COVID-19 Community Level Category, All Other Counties in CT Remain Orange/High

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LYME/OLD LYME — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s latest COVID-19 Community Levels Map for Connecticut (CT), pictured above and dated Thursday, Jan. 19, shows an improvement over the previous week’s map dated Jan. 13. New London County not only remains in the Yellow/Medium category but Fairfield County has rejoined it there.

The remaining six counties in Connecticut, however, are still in the Orange/High Category.

Because all eight Connecticut counties are either in the High or Medium categories, the CT Department of Public Health (DPH) recommends that all residents consider wearing a mask in public indoor spaces. People who are at high risk for severe illness should consider additional measures to minimize their exposure to COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.   

To help protect themselves, their families, and the state’s most vulnerable residents and to preserve capacity in the CT health care system, people are also advised to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if they have symptoms.  

Connecticut DPH officials stress there are numerous tools for residents to deal effectively with COVID-19, including vaccines and updated boosters, Test to Treat locations, the mobile vaccination van clinics, and the wide availability of COVID-19 self-test kits. 

The links to all these resources can be found in the DPH COVID-19 toolbox at www.ct.gov/coronavirus.

Additionally, the Federal Government has now made available four free self-test kits per household.  These free self-test kits can be ordered by visiting www.covid.gov/tests. 

The COVID-19 Community Levels inform CDC recommendations on prevention measures, such as masking and testing. The guidelines include a color-coded system available on the CDC website of “Low,” “Medium,” and “High.” This approach focuses on preventing hospitals and health care systems from being overwhelmed and directing prevention efforts toward protecting people at high risk for severe illness.   

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a news release issued Jan. 7, 2023 by the Connecticut Department of Public Health and sent to LymeLine by Ledge Light Health District.

Our Top 15 — The Most-Read Articles on LymeLine in 2022

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LYME/OLD LYME — It is always interesting in early January of one year to crunch the numbers and see which stories drew the highest number of readers in the previous year. This year was no exception — there were some predictable winners like the announcement of the Old Lyme 2021 Citizen of the Year and the unexpected (and unsuccessful, as far as we know) auction of the Old Lyme Shopping Center.

There were several pandemic-related articles such as the opening of applications for ARPA grants in Old Lyme and a dramatic increase in the number of Connecticut towns in the Red Zone in April. The decision by the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme to hold its White Elephant Sale after a two-year Covid-enforced hiatus was greeted enthusiastically by many readers as was news that Lyme-Old Lyme Schools had dropped their COVID mask-mandate.

Controversial issues always prompt a rise in readers and predictably the whole business about the then-insuperable obstacles facing Old Lyme’s Open Space Commissions’ efforts to acquire two parcels of the Ames property fell into that category. Similarly, people wanted to read all about the appointment of a new face to the OL Economic Development Commission against both the recommendation of its chair and over an incumbent. The still-ongoing saga of the Tantummaheag access dispute made the list as did the subject of armed guards in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools.

Sad news also invariably attracts increased readership and so the announcement of the passing of our beloved food writer Lee White is on our list as is the unanticipated departure of the then-director of the Florence Griswold Museum.

There were surprisingly few politically-related stories in our Top 15 for 2022, even though it was a feisty election year. The one that did make the list related to a well-known Old Lyme resident being the major funder of a new Republican PAC in the state.

We knew Maureen Haseley-Jones’s gardening columns were popular, but it was a slight surprise that February’s — of all months — crept into our Top 15. Congratulations , Maureen!

But the biggest surprise of all was the most-read story of the year, which, against all odds, was the second and final segment of a two-part-story about the history of tobacco in Connecticut!

It is a particularly topical article for today — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — because (and who knew?), MLK worked in the summers of both 1944 and 1947 on a tobacco farm in Simsbury to earn money for tuition. He wrote to his father that, “there was no discrimination at all,” north of Washington DC, adding that up North, “We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to.” 

King wrote in his autobiography, “It was a bitter feeling going back to segregation after those summers in Connecticut.”

Corey Kilgannon wrote in the New York Times that the dream of equality that MLK first glimpsed in Simsbury helped reshape his world view, adding, “It was during those summers that King began his path to becoming a minister.”

Congratulations to our very own Tom Gotowka on being the author of our most-read article in 2022!

We have a feeling the article was picked up by some research entities, which may have increased its readership numbers, but that takes nothing away from the simple fact that it recorded more readers than any other article in the whole of 2022!

The complete list of our Top 15 most-read articles for 2022 in descending order is as follows:

  1. A View from My Porch: The Shady History of Connecticut Tobacco — The Finale by Thomas Gotowka

  2. Has the Pandemic Affected You or Your Business? Old Lyme Opens Applications for ARPA Grants to Businesses, Nonprofits, Town Entities

  3. Old Lyme Shopping Center Goes Up for Auction

  4. Old Lyme’s 2021 Citizen of the Year is Cheryl Poirier!

  5. April 21 COVID-19 Update: More Than Half of CT Towns Back in Red Zone, Including Lyme, Old Lyme; Three New Cases in Lyme Raise Cumulative Total to 268, Two in OL Take Total to 1085


  6. Old Lyme Open Space Commission Announces Efforts to Acquire Two Parcels of ‘Ames Property’ Have Ended, Obstacles “Impossible to Overcome”

  7. Letter to the Editor: Armed Guards in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools — More Questions from Betsy Groth

  8. Death Announced of Our Beloved Food Writer, Lee White

  9. After Two Year COVID-Enforced Hiatus, Old Lyme Church’s White Elephant Sale is Back

  10. Griswold, Ward Vote to Appoint Colwell to Old Lyme EDC Against Recommendations of Commission Chair

  11. Mask Mandate for Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Lifted From Feb. 28, But Masks Still Recommended; “Individual’s Decisions” Must be Respected (Neviaser)

  12. Old Lyme Town Attorneys Issue Findings on Tantummaheag Dispute, Owners Describe Report as “Filled with Factual, Legal and Historic Errors“

  13. Old Lyme’s Florence Griswold Museum Director Beaulieu Leaving to Become President/CEO of Cincinnati’s Taft Museum of Art

  14. Old Lyme RTC Chair Kelsey Donates $500,000 to Launch New PAC

  15. Gardening Tips for February from ‘The English Lady,’ Lift Your Spirits by Thinking Spring … and Beyond

New London County Stays at Medium COVID-19 Community Alert, All Remaining CT Counties at Highest Level

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The COVID-19 Community Levels map above, produced by the CDC and dated Jan. 13, 2023, shows New London as the only remaining County in Connecticut in the Medium/Yellow category.

CDC Continues to Recommend All CT Residents Wear a Mask in Public Indoor Spaces  

LYME/OLD LYME — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s latest COVID-19 Community Levels Map, pictured above, which was updated today (Jan. 13), shows that New London is the only County remaining in Connecticut, which is not in the High/Orange level.

Last week’s map dated Jan. 7, showed Fairfield County in the Yellow/Medium category along with New London, but this week, Fairfield has moved into the highest Orange category joining all six of the state’s remaining counties.

This means seven counties in Connecticut are in the Orange/ High Category while the eighth (New London) is still Medium/Yellow.

Because all eight Connecticut counties are either in the High or Medium categories, the Connecticut Department of Public Health recommends that all residents consider wearing a mask in public indoor spaces. People who are at high risk for severe illness should consider additional measures to minimize their exposure to COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.   

To help protect themselves, their families, and the state’s most vulnerable residents and to preserve capacity in the CT health care system, people are also advised to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if they have symptoms.  

Connecticut DPH officials stress there are numerous tools for residents to deal effectively with COVID-19, including vaccines and updated boosters, Test to Treat locations, the mobile vaccination van clinics, and the wide availability of COVID-19 self-test kits. 

The links to all these resources can be found in the DPH COVID-19 toolbox at www.ct.gov/coronavirus.

Additionally, the Federal Government has now made available four free self-test kits per household.  These free self-test kits can be ordered by visiting www.covid.gov/tests. 

The COVID-19 Community Levels inform CDC recommendations on prevention measures, such as masking and testing. The guidelines include a color-coded system available on the CDC website of “Low,” “Medium,” and “High.” This approach focuses on preventing hospitals and health care systems from being overwhelmed and directing prevention efforts toward protecting people at high risk for severe illness.   

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a news release issued Jan. 7, 2023 by the Connecticut Department of Public Health and sent to LymeLine by Ledge Light Health District.

Four CT Counties Now in High/Orange COVID-19 Community Levels Category, New London County Remains in Medium/Yellow

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The COVID-19 Community Levels map above, produced by the CDC and dated Jan. 2, 2023, shows New London County in the Medium/Yellow category.

HARTFORD/LYME/OLD LYME, Conn.—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has listed four Connecticut Counties—Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex and New Haven Counties—in the High/Orange category in its most recent COVID-19 Community Levels Map.

New London along with Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties are listed in the Medium/Yellow category. 

The COVID-19 Community Levels map —which was launched earlier this year—informs CDC recommendations on prevention measures, such as masking and testing. The guidelines include a color-coded system available on the CDC website of “Low,” “Medium,” and “High.” This approach focuses on preventing hospitals and health care systems from being overwhelmed and directing prevention efforts toward protecting people at high risk for severe illness.  

To protect the most vulnerable residents and preserve capacity in our health care system, people living in the counties designated in the High/Orange category are advised to wear a mask indoors in public, stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, and get tested if they have symptoms. Additional precautions may be needed for residents who are at high risk for severe illness. 

“We are now witnessing the long-anticipated winter COVID-19 surge. With 2023 right around the corner, we are in a far better place with this pandemic then we were in 2020,” said Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, MD. “We have many more tools at our disposal to deal effectively with COVID-19, including vaccines and updated boosters, Test to Treat locations, the mobile van clinics, and the wide availability of COVID-19 self-test kits.”

Commissioner Juthani added that links to all these resources can be found in the DPH COVID-19 toolbox at www.ct.gov/coronavirus. Additionally, the Federal Government has now made available four (4) free self-test kits per household. These free self-test kits can be ordered by visiting www.covid.org/tests.

Residents living in the counties designated the Yellow/Medium Category, who are at high risk for severe illness, should talk to their health care providers about when they should consider wearing a mask and any other precautions they should consider taking. These residents should also stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if they have symptoms.

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a news release issued Dec. 30, 2022 by the Connecticut Department of Public Health and sent to LymeLine by Ledge Light Health District.

U.S. Federal Gov. Again Offering Free COVID-19 Test Kits

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Free COVID-19 self-tests are once again available on request from the Federal Government..

LYME/OLD LYME — On Monday, Dec. 19, the US Federal Government restarted its program to ship free COVID-19 test kits to any household that requests them. To order up to four kits for your household, visit this link.

The maximum number of test kits that can be requested for a household is four.

A limited supply of test kits is also available for pick-up at Lyme and Old Lyme Town Halls.