LYME-OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report issued Monday, Nov. 29, at 4 p.m. by the Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH) shows one new, confirmed COVID-19 case in Old Lyme taking that town’s total of cumulative cases to 475 and one new case in Lyme, raising that town’s cumulative total to 135.
Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser informed the school community today (Nov. 29) that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported. See below for a full listing of all LOL Schools-related cases.
As we reported on Friday, Nov. 26, Old Lyme has re-entered the Red Zone in the weekly COVID-19 Average Daily Case Rate Report issued by the state on Nov. 26. This was the first time Old Lyme had been in the Red (highest) Zone since Sept. 30, 2021. Lyme remained in the Gray (lowest) Zone, where it has been since Sept. 30, 2021.
The number of towns statewide in the Red Zone has increased dramatically in the past two weeks with 67 towns in it last week and 110 this week. To give a further indication of the significance of the increase, the number of towns in the Red Zone on Oct. 7, 2021 was down to 37.
All the towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) are in the Red Zone, except Lyme.
Prior to Monday, Nov. 22, when two new cases were reported, Lyme had previously gone 35 days in succession without reporting a single new case.
This means the cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 32 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443.
On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 103 new cases there since that date. Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 25 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.
In an email sent Wednesday, Nov. 24, regarding the latest COVID-19 data, Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) Director of Health Steven Mansfield stated, “The number of new COVID cases within our jurisdiction continues to increase, which is consistent with an increase in COVID cases statewide, according to DPH data. Unfortunately, we expect this trend to continue as we move into the holiday season.”
He continued, “LLHD continues to focus our vaccination efforts on homebound populations and providing boosters to individuals who were vaccinated previously,” adding, “It is imperative that we remain diligent in our mitigation strategies. We strongly advise everyone to continue to wear masks indoors in public settings, regardless of vaccination status.”
The state does not issue reports over the weekend nor on public holidays. The next report from CT DPH will be issued Tuesday, Nov. 30, at around 4 p.m.
COVID-19 Cases in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools
This is the latest information that we have with the most recent cases first — there may have been further updates, however, which we have not yet received.
On Monday, Nov. 29, Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.
On Tuesday, Nov. 23, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) had been reported.
On Monday, Nov. 22, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.
On Thursday, Nov. 18, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.
On Wednesday, Nov. 17, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.
On Sunday, Nov. 14, Neviaser informed the school community that over the weekend a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.
On Wednesday, Oct. 20, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.
On Wednesday, Oct. 5, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported the previous evening.
On Thursday, Oct. 23, Neviaser informed the school community of two intrafamilial positive cases of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS.) He stated, “We were able to complete our contact tracing and the one individual who must quarantine has been notified.”
On Thursday, Sept. 23, Neviaser informed the school community of two intrafamilial positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS. He noted, “We were able to complete our contact tracing and the one individual who must quarantine has been notified.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 22, Neviaser informed the school community of a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS.
On Thursday, Sept. 16, Neviaser informed the school community that a previously reported positive case of COVID-19 is now impacting Mile Creek School and Center School.
On Monday, Sept. 13, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19, which had been reported the previous day, was impacting LOLMS.
On Wednesday, Sept. 1, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 was impacting Mile Creek School.
On Tuesday, Aug. 31, Neviaser informed the school community that late on Monday, Aug. 30, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.
On Saturday, Aug. 28, Neviaser informed the school community that late on Friday, Aug. 27, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme School had been reported.
In all cases, contact tracing was completed and those individuals who needed to quarantine were notified. They will be able to return to school following their quarantine period. All other students and staff will continue to attend school as scheduled.
Fatalities Due to COVID-19 in Lyme, Old Lyme
There has been one COVID-related fatality of a Lyme resident: a 57-year-old male passed away Nov. 16, 2021. The state has yet to include this fatality in its data. We have asked Director of Health Steven Mansfield for an explanation of this but have not received a response to date.
Three COVID-related fatalities have been reported in Old Lyme. The first two fatalities from Old Lyme, which were reported in 2020, were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.
Details of the third, which was reported in 2021, have not been made available.
The most important part of this article is the ending. There have been 0 deaths of school age children, great news. There also have been only 3 deaths total. Two were in people over 60, we know advancing age increases the chance of dying, along with underlying disease and obesity. It would be nice to know if the two deaths also had underlying disease. The importance of this would be to put covid deaths into perspective. It happens, but if under 60 with no underlying disease, and vaccinated, it is very rare.
If I am right about the 3rd death (correct me if I am not), he was a policeman who was not vaccinated. Again, we do not know if he had underlying disease. Plus this reinforces the value of vaccination for the skeptical. Bottom line, no need to be scared, life involves risk, ie driving, swimming, drinking, smoking, etc. Lastly, let the kids de mask, let them talk on the bus and during lunch. The data proves the chance of them dying is slim to none. But emotionally they are suffering as the children’s hospital ER article recently showed. Follow the Science.