OLD SAYBROOK — The Community Health Center is offering free COVID-19 drive-through tests at Saybrook Point seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
You do not need a doctor’s note or an appointment, but be aware the wait to be tested can be long.
Photo by CDC on Unsplash.
LYME/OLD LYME — Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) will be hosting free flu clinics for area residents. The LLHD includes both Lyme and Old Lyme.
Flu shots will be provided for adults 19 years and older. Flu Mist will be available to individuals 19 years and older who are healthy and not pregnant.
All participants must wear a mask and practice social distancing.
The times and locations of upcoming flu shot clinics are as follows:
A flu consent form is required for each participant. Forms can be downloaded at www.llhd.org or obtained at the clinic. It is recommended that people wear a short sleeve shirt or loose-fitting clothes for easy access to the upper arm.
If you have any questions, call 860-448-4882.
In addition to Lyme and Old Lyme, Ledge Light Health District serves as the local health department for East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, New London, North Stonington, Stonington, and Waterford.
To the Editor:
Paraphrasing Thomas Paine, “These were the times that tried our souls.”
Looking back, the first COVID-19 case in the United States was diagnosed in Washington State, just seven weeks after last Thanksgiving [2019]; the patient had recently returned home from Wuhan, China. Yesterday [Nov. 25], that state’s total cases exceeded 158,000, confirmed; with over 2,800 deaths.
On March 8th of this year, Governor Lamont announced that CT DPH had confirmed CT’s first case in a Wilton resident who had just returned from CA; and was under treatment at Danbury Hospital.
The Bad News:
We are currently in a public health crisis, and it’s worsening daily. This week, we reached 265,740 dead Americans; and 142,732 new confirmed cases, nationwide. CT’s case total now exceeds 109,000, with 4,926 deaths.
The seven-day rolling average of 170,856 new cases per day grew nearly 50 percent in the last two weeks. We now have more than 88,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19, the highest number the nation has ever experienced. Scientists have predicted this fall surge for months, and now, have also warned us that it’s extending into a dark winter. “dark winter”.
Public health officials have stressed, for months, some simple behaviors that should help to curb the further spread of the disease: Wear a mask, wash your hands frequently, avoid crowds, especially indoors, keep a safe space between yourself and other people who are not from your household — a piece of cake? Some elected officials have absolutely refused to promulgate, or model these accepted behaviors; and some new jargon, “super-spreader events” has become part of the epidemiologic lexicon.
Unbelievably (to me), seven Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire have called for the NH House Judiciary Committee to begin an investigation to determine whether Governor Sununu, also a Republican, can be impeached for requiring people to wear a mask in public places.
I always review the data from South Dakota, whose “cowboy culture” (their term), makes anything, but free choice, unacceptable. This week, SD reported more COVID-19 deaths per capita than anywhere else in the United States, and it also had the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Two weeks ago, SD’s test positivity rate reached a frightening 60 percent, second only in the U.S. to neighboring Wyoming. SD hospitals are approaching their breaking point.
The Daylight:
There is some very good news. Scientists and boffins on both sides of the Atlantic have made vaccine development their highest priority, and have moved forward “All Ahead, Flank, Cavitate”! (This is Southeast Connecticut, just ask a submarine driver.)
Distribution and vaccination are on the horizon.
Sincerely,
Thomas D. Gotowka,
Old Lyme.
Come ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home . . .
Well, maybe not this year.
It’s 2020 and starting back in March, our lives changed as the pandemic started spreading across the land. We sheltered in place, incessantly spritzed with hand sanitizers, and began wearing masks every time we dared to venture out in public.
Now it seems that 2020 will be a demarcation date on our timelines. Do you remember what it was like PC (Pre-COVID) when you could hug your friends and meet them for dinner at a favorite restaurant?
More importantly, who could have imagined that nine months later the COVID crisis would have worsened with a death toll of more than a quarter of a million Americans and still spiking? And now it’s Thanksgiving—a time to gather round the table with family and chow down on favorite foods. But many of us will not be celebrating the traditional way in this “annus horribilis” — as Queen Elizabeth would say.
Yet I have plenty to be thankful for (a song by Irving Berlin, by the way.)
I am grateful for my health and that of my family, that I have a roof over my head, and that I go to sleep with a full tummy at night. Especially now when I know so many are suffering, grieving for loved ones, or wondering how to put food on the table.
And I am thankful for all those working on the front lines—from health care workers to those stocking grocery shelves—who have helped us to keep the home fires burning. The heart I placed on my kitchen door last spring is still hanging there and there are many heart signs still in place around our town.
The thoughtfulness of family and friends have also been blessings in my life this year.
Sure, there are days when I’ve been depressed and it was difficult to keep my sunny side up. But how heartwarming it has been to have neighbors text, “Do you need anything at the store?” To receive phone calls from old friends asking, “How are you doing?” Or to have my niece stop by with a “care package” from Sift Bake Shop (my favorite chocolate croissants!)
Since I am a senior citizen and have feasted at many turkey dinners, I will add “Thanks For The Memories” of Thanksgivings Past.
In days of yore, my family would receive a package of pecans from Louisiana at the beginning of each November. They were from the trees in my aunt’s yard and it was a sign that it was time to start baking pies. As I child, I remember rising early with my mom to start cutting up the celery and onion for the stuffing and the periodic basting of the bird. And, oh, that tantalizing aroma of a turkey roasting for hours!
Though I am sad that I can’t be with my family for Thanksgiving 2020, I am counting my blessings and thinking of the song lyrics:
Someday soon, we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow . . .
Editor’s Note: Linda Ahnert is a resident of Old Lyme and former Arts Editor at the now-departed ‘Main Street News.’
She is a long-time docent at the Florence Griswold Museum and has volunteered for numerous local art organizations.
AREAWIDE — Region #4, which comprises the middle and high school-age students of Chester, Deep River and Essex, has rescinded its request for football coach and gym teacher Tom King to submit his resignation.
A joint statement issued just before 7 p.m. Monday evening and signed by both King and Region #4 Superintendent Brian J. White says, “As the Superintendent and Head Football Coach, we recognize that during the time of the Covid19 pandemic our communities and schools have put in place measures as recommended by the Department of Public Health to protect the health and safety of our students, staff and community members.”
It continues, “Through discussion, we have come to an understanding about the extent of the coach’s involvement in an independent team of Region 4 football players. Coach King does understand as a role model, the concerns about community perception regarding his involvement with this team.”
The statement then notes, “We both understand and accept that as educators and professionals we have a special responsibility to our students, staff and community during a pandemic and that we must place safety above all else. It is in this spirit, that the request for Coach King to resign from the position of head football coach has been rescinded.”
In conclusion, the statement looks to the future, saying, “Moving forward we will collaborate to provide the ongoing leadership necessary to support our students, staff and communities and the importance of the values of respect, kindness and concern for each other. We are committed to working together to build a bridge within our
community in a manner that serves the best interest of Valley Regional High School and the towns of Chester, Deep River, and Essex.”
Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) students play football on the VRHS ‘Warriors’ team in a formalized co-operative arrangement, which has been in place for some 10 years. Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser explained, however, that the co-op arrangement did not mean LOL Schools had any involvement in the recent actions of the Region #4 Superintendent.
Neviaser said by email on Sunday, “In our current cooperative football agreement with Valley Regional, Region #4 employs the head coach. Therefore, any action or proposed action is independent of the Region #18 [Lyme-Old Lyme Schools] Board of Education.”
According to news reports, the issue that had prompted White to ask for King’s resignation was King’s presence at an Independent Football League practice held in Lyme, which included players from both VRHS and LOLHS. The League was formed in response to the cancellation of the high school football season by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.
Since he is the VRHS/LOLHS football coach, King was not permitted by Region #4 to coach in the Independent Football League. According to numerous reports, King submitted he complied with that ruling and many witnesses have substantiated that statement. King has been head football coach at Valley Regional High School since 1997/
A petition started by the captain of the VRHS/LOLHS co-op football team Jack Cox on change.org, requesting that King should retain his positions at Valley Regional High School garnered 2,885 signatures.