HARTFORD, Conn. — Governor Lamont took to Twitter Saturday afternoon to announce Connecticut's update on coronavirus.
According to Lamont, there are 972 new positive COVID-19 cases, bringing the state's total to 11,510.
1,593 patients have been hospitalized to date and 494 fatalities have been reported.
More than 39,831 patients have been tested, Lamont said.
The governor also announced released a list of every nursing home in the state that has reported a positive case of COVID-19 as of Saturday.
Cases have been reported at a total of 103 homes. Those are are follows:
Bethel
Bethel Health Care Center
Bloomfield
Bloomfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation
Caleb Hitchcock Health Center
Touchpoints at Bloomfield
Branford
Branford Hills Health Care Center
Bridgeport
Jewish Living Center
Northbridge Healthcare Center
Bristol
Countryside Manor of Bristol
Sheridan Woods Health Care Center
Canton
Cherry Brook Health Care Center
Chester
Aaron Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation
Cromwell
Apple Rehab Cromwell
Danbury
Glen Hill Center
Saint John Paul II Center
Western Rehabilitation Care Center
East Hartford
Riverside Health & Rehabilitation Center
East Haven
Apple Rehab Laurel Woods
Whispering Pines
East Windsor
Fresh River Healthcare
Enfield
Parkway Pavilion Health and Rehabilitation Center
Fairfield
Cambridge Health and Rehabilitation Center
Carolton Chronic & Convalescent
Ludlowe Center for Health & Rehabilitation
RegalCare at Southport
Farmington
Touchpoints at Farmington
Glastonbury
Glastonbury Health Care Center
Salmon Brook Rehab and Nursing
Greenwich
Greenwich Woods
Nathaniel Witherall
Guilford
Guilford House
Hamden
Arden House
Hamden Rehabilitation & Health Care Center
Whitney Rehabilitation Care Center
Hartford
Chelsea Place
Trinity Hill Care Center
Manchester
Crestfield Rehabilitation Center
Manchester Manor Health Care Center
Touchpoints at Manchester
Meriden
Curtis Home
Middletown
Middlesex Health Care Center
Water's Edge Center for Health & Rehabilitation
Milford
Golden Hill Rehab Pavilion
Milford Health and Rehabilitation Center
West River Rehab Center
Naugatuck
Glendale Center
New Britain
Grandview Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center
New Canaan
Waveny Care Center
New Haven
Grimes Center
The Mary Wade Home
New London
Harbor Village
New Milford
Village Crest Center for Health & Rehabilitation
Newington
Bel Air Manor
Newington Rapid Recovery Rehab Center
North Haven
Montowese Health & Rehabilitation Center
Norwalk
Autumn Lake Healthcare at Norwalk
Cassena Care at Norwalk
Plainville
Apple Rehab Farmington Valley
Portland
Portland Care and Rehabilitation
Ridgefield
Laurel Ridge Health care Center
Rocky Hill
60 West
Apple Rehab Rocky Hill
Maple View Health & Rehabilitation Center
Seymour
Shady Knoll Health Center
Sharon
Sharon Health Care Center
Shelton
Apple Shelton
Bishop-Wicke Health and Rehabilitation
Gardner Heights Health Care Center
Hewitt Health & Rehabilitation Center
Simsbury
McLean Health Center
Southbury
Lutheran Home of Southbury
Southington
Summit at Plantsville
Stafford
Evergreen Health Care Center
Stamford
Cassena Care at Stamford
Edgehill Health Center
Long Ridge Post-Acute Care
St. Camillus Center
The Villa at Stamford
Stratford
Lord Chamberlain Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Suffield
Suffield House
Torrington
Litchfield Woods
RegalCare at Torrington
Valerie Manor
Wolcott Hall Nursing Center
Trumbull
Maefair Health Care Center
St. Joseph's Center
Vernon
Fox Hill Center
Wallingford
Quinnipiac Valley Center
Waterbury
Abbott Terrace Health Center
RegalCare at Waterbury
Waterbury Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation
Waterford
Bayview Health Care
New London Sub-Acute and Nursing
West Hartford
Hebrew Center for Health and Rehabilitation
Hughes Health and Rehabilitation
Saint Mary Home
The Reservoir
West Hartford Health and Rehabilitation Center
West Haven
RegalCare at West Haven
Wilton
Wilton Meadows Health Care Center
Windsor
Kimberly Hall North
Kimberly Hall South
Windsor Health and Rehabilitation Center
Woodbridge
The Willows
Gov. Lamont also announced an executive order establishing COVID-19 recovery centers for nursing home residents.
The order implements the medical surge plan for long-term care facilities he announced on Wednesday, which will establish COVID-19 recovery centers in certain nursing homes throughout the state that will accept patients who can be discharged from acute care hospitals but are still impacted by COVID-19 infection, officials said in a release.
The first two recovery centers will be at Sharon Health Care Center in Sharon and Northbridge Healthcare Center in Bridgeport.
According to Lamont's office, DPH will create additional centers at other locations throughout the state as needed.
Commissioner Coleman-Mitchell said that she intends to authorize the formation of an additional recovery center at Torrington Health and Rehabilitation Center in Torrington, and is in the process of finalizing details for more recovery centers in other locations to be announced in the coming days.
Gov. Lamont says people who live in nursing homes are among the most vulnerable, and this plan is needed in order to protect those who are negative for the virus while providing adequate areas of recovery for those who have tested positive and can be discharged from hospitals.
“We are grateful for the nursing homes that are partnering with us in this critical effort – their staff is providing an invaluable service to the people of our state and we cannot thank them enough,” he said.
Public Health Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell says DPH is committed to doing everything they can to make sure our nursing home residents get the care they need and that nursing home staff are protected with enough equipment.
"These new COVID-19 recovery centers will provide hundreds of new beds for COVID-19 care all over the state, and this will help to make hospital beds available to absorb the surge of hospitalizations we anticipate in the next couple of weeks,” Coleman-Mitchell said.
The Connecticut Department of Social Services and the Office of Policy and Management have determined a specific payment rate of $600 per day for the COVID-19 recovery centers, and additional payments of 10 percent across the board for all nursing homes in Connecticut during the course of the pandemic, Lamont's office said in a release.
Connecticut's third COVID-19 recovery center is being deployed at the Connecticut Convention Center in downtown Hartford.
The National Guard began transforming the center into the 646-bed annex space Saturday morning.
On Friday, Gov. Lamont announced two executive orders that will likely be signed Friday. The first is set to help renters.
According to Mounds, there will also be an automatic 60-day grace period for renters in the month of April.
Governor Lamont said doing something for the renters was very important to him.
When asked about the potential hit landlords could take as a result of this Executive order, Mounds explained there were various assistance programs already available.
Mounds says there will also be an Executive Order put out Friday to extend social distancing measures for non-essential businesses like bars, restaurants, malls, and gyms to at least May 20th.
Deidre Gifford, the commissioner of the department of social services, was also at Friday’s briefing. She said her office is processing a spike in SNAP applications.
“Since February, our daily application volume has approximately quadrupled,” said Commissioner Gifford. “So, we are seeing lots of new interest in the program.”
With the increased interest, Commissioner Gifford said there are longer wait times on the phone lines.
On Thursday, Gov. Lamont announced that schools in the state would remain closed at least until May 20.
Connecticut officials said the decision to close schools in the state until at least May 20th was not one that was made lightly.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that he would like to coordinate reopening of schools with CT and New Jersey.
Speaking at a press briefing Thursday afternoon, Gov. Lamont and Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona explained the factors that went into the decision.
“This decision has not been made lightly and it helps protect the valuable lives of not only our students, but our dedicated staff, and the hero health care workers that are working really hard to try to keep us healthy,” said Commissioner Cardona. “If students are sent to school prematurely, we could be sending them into harm's way.”
Commissioner Cardona did announce students in the class of 2020 would have graduated.
“You deserve it, you worked hard for it, and you will get it,” Commissioner Cardona said. “The governor and I, along with our dedicated educators, are committed to this.”
Commissioner Cardona said all high school superintendents and principals are already planning what it might look like if classes are canceled through the end of the year.
