On this day one year ago, our lives changed.
March 10, 2020, Connecticut declared a State of Emergency.
At that point, our state had just two confirmed cases of COVID-19 and there were only about 850 cases nationwide.
“I’m not worried about us overreacting. I’m proud of us being prepared,” said Governor Ned Lamont twelve months ago during the news conference announcement.
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Lamont stood side-by-side with a variety of state leaders packed close together before social distancing was a thing.
Instead of early morning lines of people waiting anxiously to get tested for the virus, now we’re seeing queues for three vaccines.
“Our lines used to be down Asylum Street, wrapped around multiple corners. I think that symbolized the fear that was on the hearts of so many residents of the state of Connecticut,” said Dr. Reginald Eadie, president and CEO of Trinity Health of New England.
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“People are feeling really positive now. It’s nice to see a lot of friends getting vaccinated,” said Lynn Sorrentino of Rocky Hill.
“Just today I finally scheduled my COVID vaccine, so I didn’t realize it was exactly a year since he did his executive order,” said Mary Bergamo of Glastonbury.
Despite the light at the end of this tunnel, doctors remind folks to still be careful.
We’re still in a pandemic.
“As we reflect on the one year experience we’ve had, just to take a moment and appreciate and show appreciation to people who are still on the frontlines, the people who are still risking their lives to ensure that we still safely get through to the other side of this pandemic,” said Eadie.
Trinity Health hopes you’ll help them honor frontline workers and remember those who have died from COVID on Thursday, March 11 outside the St. Francis Hospital entrance.
At 11 a.m., they’re hosting a commemoration ceremony marking one year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
Eadie, co-chair of the state’s vaccine advisory group, says we’re currently competing with the constantly mutating virus.
The goal: to get herd immunity.
“I look at it like there’s a race going on and whoever gets to the finish like the wins,” and we don’t want the virus to win.
So as vaccination distribution continues, he says we have to keep wearing masks and social distancing until we cross the finish line first.
Meanwhile, these past twelve months have shown us just how creative and resilient Connecticut residents can be.
Wednesday folks decorated Pratt Street in Hartford in preparation of safe St. Patrick’s Day events this March, one year after the 2020 parade was canceled.
“It was very devastating because it was just such a happy day for people,” said Jody Moreneault, who owns Stackpole Moore Tryon in Hartford.
But she and other volunteers say they’ll make the best of it this holiday and this summer, “We’ll have dancing again, even if it’s at a social distance.”
