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New Haven making progress against COVID-19 exactly 18 months since 1st reported case, mayor says

While acknowledging that the fight against COVID-19 is ongoing, Elicker said the city’s vaccination rates are very encouraging.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Mayor Justin Elicker noted that Tuesday marked exactly 18 months since the first COVID-19 infection was recorded in New Haven. The city has been a roller coaster ever since.

While acknowledging that the fight against COVID-19 is ongoing, Elicker said the city’s vaccination rates are very encouraging.

“Now we are at more than 71% of eligible New Haven residents that have received at least one vaccine shot,” the mayor said during a news conference Tuesday.

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He said nearly 65% of eligible residents – meaning those ages 12 and older – are fully vaccinated. More than 50% of young people, ages 12 to 17, have received their first dose, while 42% are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the city is nearing the deadline that employees are required to either provide proof of vaccination or opt for weekly testing.

Elicker about 90% of city employees have registered for the system – 80% of which are fully vaccinating. The remaining have opted to do weekly testing.

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As for the remaining 10% of employees who have not registered or opted out, the mayor had this to say:

“Ultimately, if people don’t comply with the program, there will be days and they will be deemed unfit for work. Part of complying with the program is they need to input their information,” he said.

Elicker said some of the city employees that have not yet registered may either be out on leave or have been on vacation.

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The mayor and Health Director, Maritza Bond, said they are proud of the fact that the city has held over 500 pop-up vaccination clinics since the vaccine became available.

The city also employed a recent advertising campaign that includes print and digital of young people in the city advocating for folks to get the vaccine, including student-athletes from Wilbur Cross High School.

“I did this because I just wanted to help the city out and I just hope everybody to gets vaccinated so we could get back to sports and everything else,” Fredo Delgado, a junior at Wilbur Cross said.

Tony Terzi is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tterzi@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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