COVID Concerns Close Derby City Hall, Derby Public Library

DERBY — Two City Hall employees have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the city to close the building today (Monday, Nov. 16), Mayor Rich Dziekan’s office announced Sunday.

Derby Public Library is also closed due to a potential ​“COVID exposure,” the city said.

The city is awaiting test results for a third employee.

(Click here for info on COVID testing)

Derby City Hall closed early last Thursday after an employee in the building had cold-like symptoms. The building was cleaned, something that will happen again today.

Derby, like every community in the lower Naugatuck Valley, is a ​“red alert” zone on the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 map.

The state uses a color-coded, three-tiered system to identify places where COVID-19 transmission is on the rise. ​“Red alert” towns are communities where the average daily positivity rate is at least 15 cases a day for two weeks.

Derby’s rate was 12.6 on Oct. 29, 17.1 on Nov. 5. and 34.2 on Nov. 12.

Here’s a look at the COVID-19 rates in other Valley towns.

Ansonia
36.2 on Nov. 12
95 cases in period reported
Per capita rate was 27.1 on Nov. 5 and 19.5 on Oct. 29

Beacon Falls
24.3
21 cases reported
Rate was 8.1 on Nov. 5

Naugatuck
34.2
150 cases
Rate was 19.2 on Nov. 5

Oxford
15.7
29 cases
Rate was 10.3 on Nov. 5

Seymour
32
74 cases in period reported
Rate was 17.7 on Nov. 5 and 14.3 on Oct. 29

Shelton
26.4
152 cases in period reported
Rate was 15.5 on Nov. 5

Two staff members at Derby Middle School also tested positive for COVID-19, according to a letter posted Nov. 15 on the school district’s website.

District administrators held a meeting online to talk about the situation.

The district has not closed its buildings and switched to online learning, measures taken recently by many other school districts, including Ansonia and Seymour.

Derby school board chairman Jim Gildea addressed the situation Sunday in a Tweet.

Why in person learning in Derby?

A. As of now, strong student metrics
B. In person learning best way to educate children
C. Parents still have full control and choice
D. Studies show in person better for students’ mental health
E. No evidence to show remote or hybrid is safer pic.twitter.com/4H7cpuB7JH

— Jim Gildea (@jimgildeaderby) November 16, 2020

In related COVID-19 news, Roseland Apizza, the city’s landmark restaurant at 350 Hawthorne Ave., announced Saturday it was temporarily closing its doors after an employee was exposed to someone with COVID-19.

“None of our staff members have shown any symptoms of COVID-19 but we would like to be as safe and cautious as we possibly can. For our customers and employees safety, we will remain closed until we get all negative results back from all of our employees,” according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. The employee wasn’t in the restaurant this week, and the employee isn’t part of the restaurant’s waitstaff. Click below.

In Ansonia, Cumberland Farms at the corner of Pershing Drive and Division Street was closed Friday after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19, the company said in a post on its website.

“We closed the store at 8:00 PM (EST) on Friday November 13th to be cleaned and sanitized by an industrial cleaning crew. The store will re-open in the next few days. We are grateful to all our customers for your patience and understanding during this time.”

All Team Members that work at these stores have been contacted and advised to follow CDC-recommended guidelines. We are making every effort to provide the affected Team Member and our broader team with the necessary resources and support,” according to the statement.

Tracking COVID-19 related business closures is difficult in the Naugatuck Valley. Some places, such as Putnam County in New York, send out general advisories about COVID-19 exposures in businesses where the public gather, but there is no such notification system locally outside of health district contact tracing.

Whether the general public is aware of a COVID-19 issue at a business depends on whether the business makes the issue public.

Click the play button below to listen to a podcast recorded Friday, Nov. 13 with Dr. Frederick Browne, Griffin Hospital’s chief medical officer. About 10 percent of the hospital’s patients are COVID-19 patients, but the situation, as of Friday, is not as bad as it was in April. The doctor urged people to wear masks and follow COVID-19 guidelines.

Press the play button to listen to the interview.