Local Public Health Teams Meeting COVID-19 Response September 8, 2021 - CT.gov
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Local Public Health Teams Meeting
COVID-19 Response
September 8, 2021
1. Welcome
Juanita Estrada – Welcome and overview of the agenda
2. Epidemiology
Lynn Sosa – Epi Update
• No update
Kristin Gerard – Contact tracing/K-12 testing
• The K-12 School testing program has a new name. We're calling it “Project COVID
DeteCT.”
• With Project COVID DeteCT, we are matching schools with their laboratories. Emails are
going out today to let them know what labs they are partnering with.
• In ContaCT, we still have the 24 hours snooze in effect for any record creation in
ContaCT. What this means is that any new case that comes in, won't show up in the
state tracer queue for 24 hours, and that also applies to any contacts that you created.
• You should have received an email that says that the contract has been extended for our
state tracers through the end of this month.
3. Immunizations
Benjamin Bechtolsheim
Booster Recommendations
• We're continuing to follow all the news coming out of the federal government and
federal agencies related to booster recommendations.
Homebound Vaccinations
• We are meeting later today or tomorrow with the Connecticut Home Health Agency
Association to try and enroll home health providers across the state of Connecticut as
COVID vaccine providers.
• This will hopefully help move more of the homebound vaccine administration into the
typical health care channels for individuals who are homebound by having more VNAs
and home health agencies able to administer COVID vaccines.
• The state is going to procure a statewide service provider for individuals who are
homebound, whose needs cannot be met by the VNA, home health agency, or the local
health department.LHD Teams Meeting 9/8/2021
Patricia Firmender
Booster Information
• The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products
Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will be meeting on September 17, 2021 to discuss the
manufacturer’s data regarding booster dose administration.
• Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to discuss the 8-month interval for general
boosters, but it was very clear that ACIP, CDC and HHS will be working together to look
at multiple factors when determining their actual booster recommendations. This may
involve alternate timelines as well as identifying populations that are of special interest.
• We are asking that CoVP providers please do not stock up on doses until we have an
official recommendation. We really discourage stockpiling because it's going to lead to
unnecessary wastage and spoilage. At this point, we would insist that you order only
what you need in the immediate future and what you have the storage capabilities for
that you think you can work with.
Vaccine Ordering
• Pfizer ordering cadence at the federal level was changed from a one-day window for
delivery to a three-day window. Those of you who are ordering Pfizer in quantities that
can be delivered at the tray size, this might impact some of your deliveries.
• J&J ordering has been reopened this week on a severely limited basis. Providers will be
are able to order doses, but the government has said it will be capped at 200 doses per
provider PIN. They also mentioned that any provider who doesn’t have an up-to-date
inventory on vaccines.gov or who may appear to have outstanding J&J inventory, may
not receive a shipment if that inventory is not updated to reflect a need for additional
doses.
4. PLIS/FLIS/OEMS
Chris Andresen
Alternate Vaccinators
• The PREP Act is still in place which expands the professions that can vaccinate. The only
thing that might change in the future is that if the declared emergency ends on
September 30, 2021 then the Commissioner order would end as well.
• All information regarding the trainings required by the state are on the DPH vaccinator
webpage: Approved COVID 19 Vaccination Training Programs (ct.gov)
• PREP Act info:
https://www.phe.gov/emergency/events/COVID19/COVIDvaccinators/Pages/COVID-
and-Childhood-Vaccines.aspx
5. Public Health Preparedness and Local Health Admin
Ellen Blaschinski
• Starting today this Local Health meeting will be on a weekly basis.
• Issued final payments of ELC1 funding to almost half of the local health departments.
• If you have not sent in your updated work plan and final reports for the first budget
period, please check your records and ensure you get that in.
• Per Capita applications were due back to the agency on August 31, 2021.
2LHD Teams Meeting 9/8/2021
Krista Veneziano
• Krista welcomed the newest member of the Office of Local Health Administration team,
Leonard Zwack. He will be assisting with the review of the ELC1 applications and
quarterly reports, and he will also be spearheading our data analysis of the 2019 annual
report. He can be reached at Leonard.Zwack@ct.gov.
6. Environmental Health and Drinking Water
Tom St. Louis
• We should expect the updated youth sports guidance very soon, and it will be posted to
the DPH webpage.
• Reminder that these are recommendations. We certainly encourage everyone to follow
them, but there is no force of law and Executive Order behind them.
• CICA rules are different. For interscholastic sports, they have their own guidance which
is enforceable.
7. Joint Operations Team
Susan Hacking
Testing Sites
• 13 testing sites set up across the state. They are in Bristol, Danbury, Griswold, Hartford,
Killingly, New Britain, New Haven, Norwalk, Stamford, Waterbury, Willimantic,
Bridgeport, Norwich, Windham will be starting this week. We are also looking at setting
up testing sites in Chatham, Ledge Light, Meriden, Middletown, and Plainfield.
ELC 2 Funding
• The amount you will be getting will be very similar to what you’ve received in ELC1. We
are aiming to provide a list of the required activities and the budget template and
application forms out by the end of this month.
• Expect contact tracing to be to be a big part of the focus activities, so you will need to
budget for this.
• Over the next 8 months, we will be working on transferring contact tracing back to local
health.
8. State and Local Outreach
Jamal Porter
• No cost extensions were granted to those who submitted extension requests.
• Submit budget or subcontractor revisions to Jamal.Porter@ct.gov for approval.
• Submit your programmatic reports to Jamal.Porter@ct.gov as soon as possible.
9. Other Update
The BinaxNOW state supply is severely limited. As of now, they are only being sent to:
1) Long-term care facilities with outbreaks
2) Public schools, one box at a time, to be used for symptomatic individuals
The federal government is also sending BinaxNOW tests to long-term care facilities in high
transmissible areas.
3LHD Teams Meeting 9/8/2021
10. Questions
CIAC outlines return to sports after a COVID diagnosis; are there any restrictions to general physical
education classes?
PE is a graduation requirement. If they are allowed back to school, they can participate in PE.
We have been receiving numerous telephone calls concerning youth sports and what protocols should
be in place for COVID-19?
The update to the youth sports guidance will be posted to the DPH web page soon.
Has there been any discussions at DPH regarding MA's Test and Stay program to allow exposed students
to stay in school with BinaxNOW tests?
Test and Stay is not part of the CDC protocol.
Are there going to be delays with Moderna boosters?
We don't have enough information yet. Hopefully we will have some information in the
coming week to give us a better idea of what the timeline will be.
What are the COVID-19 Trends?
The weekly Thursday report will be out tomorrow at 2:00 PM. The number of hospitalization
children has gone up. The total number of cases is still small. Refer to the report for more
information.
Do you have additional ELC2 information?
The JOT will be meeting this week to guide the public health focus. We will have more
information soon.
What happens if we want to use expanded vaccinators at clinics where we are offering both flu and
covid? Can the expanded vaccinators provide flu in this scenario?
No, expanded vaccinators can only provide COVID vaccine.
Do paramedics have to take the federal vaccinator training?
The professions listed in the PREP Act who are also listed in the state order are required to
complete the federal training if they want federal immunity. However, they are authorized to
administer vaccines under the state order.
But if the state order ends and PREP continues, can paramedics vaccinate under the federal PREP act
once that training is completed?
Yes
Do paramedics have to submit any documentation to OEMS that they completed the federal training to
be covered under the PREP Act?
Paramedics are not mandated to report federal training, but it makes sense for them register
with DPH. The documentation is to be uploaded via the DPH Submission System at
https://dphsubmissions.ct.gov/COVID19Vaccinator .
This both verifies that they have completed training, gives us the number of available
vaccinators, and allows the provider to be added to a list for local vaccine sites.
4LHD Teams Meeting 9/8/2021
Does that mean paramedics complete the Federal Training they can give Flu Vaccinations?
The federal order is only related to COVID. We are not aware of any order that permits those
who are not generally authorized to administer vaccines to be able to administer flu vaccines.
When will Addendum 5 be updated?
An updated addendum 5 will be out this week.
Have there been talks of new vaccination cards? People have been making copies of cards and selling
them.
There are no plans, right now, to have different cards. If you are hearing of falsification of
cards, there is a process for reporting this. Please contact Patricia.Firmender@ct.gov.
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) - If you make or Buy a Fake COVID-19 Vaccination
Record Card, You Endanger Yourself and this Around You and You are Breaking the Law
https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2021/PSA210330
CT WIZ Public Portal has a COVID Only Card available now.
https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Immunizations/CT-WiZ-Request-Immunization-Record
Is the end of the ELC2 July 2023?
Yes, ELC2 runs through July 31, 2023
We would like to easily access weekly town alert data dating back to the beginning. Any advice how we
can access that?
The data for the COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 population and percent test positivity in the
last 14 days by town as well as other COVID-19 data are available on the Open Data Portal
(ODP) and can be found here. It's updated every Thursday. The data go back to the first day it
was published.
How can I get the vaccination status of the students in my schools?
School nurses have access to CT WiZ also. Students can be looked up one by one or they can
use the "rostering" functionality to upload student information and they will be able to
retrieve a listing of students that are vaccinated where a match is found. Schools should check
with their legal counsel regarding FERPA before using the rostering functionality because if it
is used, those students will be associated with the school in CT WiZ afterwards.
School Nurses can request access to CT WiZ if they don't have it already at CT WiZ User
Account
Website - https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Immunizations/CT-WiZ-School-Nurses
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