Q&A: The Health District Talks COVID-19 In The Valley

SEYMOUR — This week, The Valley Indy interviewed two people on the front lines of the local battle against COVID-19.

Jessica Kristy is the director of health at the Naugatuck Valley Health District, the organization tracking and responding to COVID-19 since it first arrived in Connecticut.

Lisa Trupp is the health district’s lead contact tracer.

Together they provide first-hand knowledge on what’s happening locally with COVID-19.

They talk about why the Naugatuck Valley recently saw higher infection rates than the rest of Connecticut — so much so that Gov. Ned Lamont mentioned a COVID-19 ​“flare up” during a press conference April 8.

The latest COVID-19 data released yesterday (April 16) shows rates dipping, thankfully, on the local level. Kristy and Trupp also talk about what’s being done to address vaccine hesitancy locally.

BTW, click here for vaccine registration options.

Valley Indy: In March and April the COVID-19 per capita infection rate was high, according to the state, in Derby and Seymour, and in the upper part of the Naugatuck Valley in general compared to the rest of Connecticut. Why?

Jessica Kristy: ​“When the governor started calling attention to the Naugatuck Valley region in the last few weeks, it sounded like it was a shocking new wave, but we’ve been experiencing these elevated cases for quite some time. The new attention made people here remember we’re still in a pandemic. A few weeks prior we were seeing it in the lower Valley, and then it rode a wave up toward the northern Valley. When we reopen schools and put people back to indoor activities, sports, families feeling more relaxed and having birthday parties, gatherings for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and Passover, we expected we would see increased cases.”

Valley Indy: Who was testing positive for COVID-19 during that elevated stretch from March to mid-April?

Jessica Kristy: ​“When we looked at our age groupings, it was our younger population: school-aged to people in their 30s. My suspicion, and from what I’ve been hearing in my phone calls, a lot of it related to family gatherings and people being a little more relaxed with the precautions. We’ve heard the term ​‘pandemic fatigue,’ and I think it’s true. People want to get back to a sense of normal behavior and, unfortunately, we’re just not quite there yet.”

Valley Indy: What made us different from all the other places suffering from COVID fatigue?

Jessica Kristy: ​“You know the Valley is very close knit. It’s transient. People are bopping around, town to town, and they’re going to the bigger cities surrounding us. And I don’t want to put blame on restaurants or make assumptions, but there were events posted that we can look back at and say ​‘had they followed the guidance, perhaps we could have eliminated some transmission.’ So, with a younger population going out and feeling more comfortable, coupled with many neighborhoods that have multi-generational housing where people are living in close quarters where they can’t necessarily isolate as well compared to other communities, it all makes an impact.”

“When we see a lot of these cases, starting with the young people especially, they may have been asymptomatic or had what looked like a common cold, or seasonal allergies. But it spread within those homes like wildfire.”

Valley Indy: What did the recent contact tracing show?

Lisa Trupp: ​“Based on our observational awareness and the interviews we conducted while contact tracing, it was a familial spread that was happening within the home. One 20-year-old goes out and contracts it somewhere and we’ve got a household of folks that have it.”

“What we’re seeing, very definitely in the Valley, is that as we begin to have more of our population vaccinated, the cases start to slide toward the younger folks because they’re lagging in the vaccination process. We can see vaccinations working. We have very, very low numbers of people over 70 (testing positive) and we have high vaccination rates there. Now it’s watching where the new cases land and how we mitigate.”

“Pandemic fatigue is definitely happening. It’s spring. Folks want to get out. And we’ve done a few things at the same time in the state. We allowed restaurants to open — and I am not throwing them under the bus — but that probably caused a surge of people to go out that weekend. The restaurants had to find their footing in how they needed to function under the new guidance. We did see a drop off this week.

(Note: the latest state COVID-19 data, showing improved numbers locally and covering March 28 to April 10, was released four hours after this interview)

“We’re starting to see cases drop off a little bit this week so we are hopeful. But we also have schools on vacation this week, so we’ll have to see what happens.”

Valley Indy: This is a long question. I understand the two-week per capita rate issued every Thursday. I can explain the math. I understand why it is used by science.

But I live in Derby. A few weeks ago Derby’s rate was in the 50s, when anything 15 or above gets you designated as a hotspot on the state’s COVID-19 map.

Whether the per capita rate is 25 in Derby or 55 in Derby, I don’t see any change in my life or surroundings, but a map online says Derby is more red.

I do not know how to explain to readers what the two-week per capita means to people on the ground. But you’re in the trenches. So, what happens in terms of workload when the per capita rate is in the 50s? What does it mean in terms of how you conduct your work?

Jessica Kristy: ​“Our office has trouble conveying the severity of the continued increase of elevated cases. It’s hard when communities remain very red, and we’re relaxing rules. It is a mixed message. I think we all want to support each other and our economy. When there is a message coming out that we’re ready to reopen, and to host carnivals and fairs and festivals and larger weddings, people tend to lose sight that we’re still in a pandemic, that is very real and very much still happening in our community. We want to hang on to optimism. That’s human nature. But I think people start to let their guard down. We’ve also had cases where people just aren’t affected by it, until someone they know or a family member gets it. We have polar opposites happening concurrently. We want to get to a point where we don’t have to wear masks in public. But we need to get more people vaccinated. We need to clear the area, the state, New England of this virus, or it’ll keep circulating.”

Valley Indy: Are there COVID-19 variants locally?

Jessica Kristy: ​“We know mutations or variants have been here in the Valley. But there is a lack of capacity to really test for the variants, so it is hard to say truly how many cases are either the B.1.1.7 variant or other variants, but we know we’ve had a few, based on genomic sequencing, and we can make the assumption we probably have more than we know. We know they are more transmissible than this already highly infectious virus.”

Valley Indy: Derby Public Schools had a recent spat of COVID-19. It seemed to spread very quickly. Was that a variant?

Jessica Kristy: ​“We can’t say for sure, but it is possible.”

“I suspect that when you look at the families in Derby, they’re in close quarters. And, when you have employees that know each other, they see each every day, they eat lunch together, they’re sitting near each other; they’re taking off their masks — a harmless thing that would not cause you to think ​‘We are all going to get COVID now.’ But it is an asymptomatic carrier who is spreading the disease without knowing it. We were seeing that.”

“Also, like I said earlier, a lot of Valley families have nearby cousins — or close family friends they consider family. So they’re having sleepovers and birthday parties thinking that they’re in a bubble. We’re seeing that, too, crossing the borders. A family in Naugatuck has relatives in Derby, they have a sleepover, and there you go.”

Valley Indy: Do you have any tips for people who are having trouble making an appointment to get vaccinated?

Jessica Kristy: ​“We don’t know what our vaccination allocation is for the following week until Friday afternoon. So if someone is going through VAMS, I recommend looking later in the week. I would also recommend using the phone numbers.” (Griffin: 203 – 433-3394) (State: 203 – 204-1053)

Valley Indy: Vaccination rates: are we seeing pockets of vaccine hesitancy within your jurisdiction (Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Derby, Naugatuck, Seymour, Shelton)? If so, where?

Jessica Kristy: ​“When you look at the town-level data, we have pretty good rates in Shelton and Beacon Falls where about half of the population has been vaccinated. Ansonia and Derby, even Naugatuck, we’re seeing them lag a little bit. I suspect part of it is due to a lack of information. There is an education component that is not reaching all of the community members there. I think there are transportation barriers for some of those community members. They’re having trouble getting to larger clinics. And I think there is some reluctance, and a lack of trust. The state has funding that will funnel down to the local health departments to start working more on vaccine equity and outreach.”

(Note: after this interview was conducted but before it was published, state Rep. Kara Rochelle announced Griffin Hospital has scheduled three walk-up clinics in Ansonia and Derby. No appointment is necessary. Click here for The Valley Indy story).

(In addition, Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti’s administration is looking for volunteers to sign up residents to get the vaccine in a #VaxTheValley effort. Click here for The Valley Indy story)

Trupp: ​“The contact tracing team has also been looking into this. When they’ve been talking to close contacts to cases, they’ve been asking whether the person plans to get a vaccination to gauge whether there is vaccine hesitancy, and, if so, why?”

Valley Indy: It has also been mentioned that Ansonia’s median age is younger than other places, so therefore the vast majority of residents have only recently become eligible to get vaccinated. Does that play into the city’s comparatively lower vaccination rate?

Jessica Kristy: ​“There might be some truth to that, but I also think everything else I mentioned contributes to Ansonia’s rate. You have to take everything into consideration. There is no one single reason.”

Valley Indy: The COVID-19 issue divides people, and I think it’s viewed through the lens of partisan politics. How do you respond to people who say ​‘if you’re scared, stay home,’ or that the data is wrong, or that COVID-19 is a way for hospitals to make money, all statements made by readers on Valley Indy Facebook?

Lisa Trupp: ​“We encounter all of it. The team here is adept at walking the folks through the conversation and providing education that tells them, first of all, we are still struggling in the Valley and that we need to work together to mitigate that. I think people see the mitigation steps as troublesome, or taking away their freedom but mitigation, wearing masks, is working us toward what we’re all looking for, at least until we get enough people vaccinated or herd immunity happens.”

Jessica Kristy: ​“Once you talk to people, they start to understand the logical reasoning behind mitigation and the severity of the pandemic, and the fact there is good science behind the vaccines. They have that ​‘ah ha’ moment. People on social media are quick to type out their thoughts or feelings before doing research. I think that’s an issue with social media in general.”

Valley Indy: I have two children, ages 8 and 10, who attend school full-time, in-person. My son has asthma. My wife and I each have one shot at this point, but we’ll be fully vaccinated within a month. But my kids won’t be vaccinated. Are masks and COVID-19 protocols for the kids and me a thing for the foreseeable future?

Jessica Kristy: ​“We’ve been doing vaccination clinics since the middle of January. We try to tell each patient ​‘While we’re vaccinating you today, and this is a step in the right direction and moving on from this virus, we are not giving you Superman’s cape. We still have to be vigilant, even those of us who are fully vaccinated. People have the misconception of ​‘I’m going to get vaccinated, and then I’m going to spring break without a mask.’

“Regarding young people, I know that Pfizer has submitted requests to approve vaccinations for 12-to-15-year olds, but that doesn’t address the rest of the young people who we know are carrying and transmitting the virus. So, do I think that masks will be here for quite a bit longer? Yes, I do. And that’s for adults, too. The vaccines that are being used now were approved under an emergency use authorization to prevent serious illness or death. They were not intended to prevent contracting or transmitting the virus. We like to make sure people understand the vaccine is great, and that they should get it — but there is still a potential that even vaccinated people can still carry or transmit the virus to someone who is not vaccinated.”

“You know, when I was sending daily updates last year, they were very grim. There were a lot of death notifications. There were high, elevated cases in our senior population, in our long-term care facilities. We are not seeing that now. We’re seeing that the people who are vaccinated in those facilities — it worked. We’re still seeing hospitalizations but it’s among the younger population who are not vaccinated. The vaccine is working in the way it was intended: to prevent serious illness and death.”

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