pandemic challenges

Juanita Austin describes the last nine months as a “roller coaster.” Her performance art space, lounge and art gallery, Cultured Studios, was forced to close in the early months of the pandemic. By April, her team left their storefront on State Street permanently. “Making that decision was tough, but I knew that we would bounce back eventually,” said Austin, creative…

Experts are concerned about how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. “The pandemic conditions plus the winter season — a lot of people will find this is a very difficult next few months,” said Dr. Paul Desan. “It’s not your imagination.” Desan is director of the Winter Depression Research Clinic at Yale…

It has been two weeks since the Christmas holiday and public health leaders in Connecticut are starting to see the anticipated post-holiday spike in COVID-19 cases. “Here in the first week of January, we have seen an increased number of cases and our test positivity rate is going up as well,” Deidre Gifford, the state’s acting public health commissioner,...

Doctors across the state are preparing for a post-holiday spike in COVID-19 cases. “We are all bracing ourselves for what is going to happen after Christmas and after New Year’s,” said Dr. Virginia Bieluch, chief of infectious diseases at the Hospital of Central Connecticut. People who gathered with people outside of their household this Christmas are urged to get...

Connecticut families tried to make the holidays special this year amid the pandemic.

Health experts are encouraging and warning Connecticut residents to stay vigilant as they head into the holidays as COVID -19 continues to plague the state. “COVID-19 is very opportunistic virus and every time we give it an opportunity to spread it takes it,” said Charles Brown, director of health for the Central Connecticut Health District. He’s speaking out on...

Health experts are concerned there will be a spike in COVID-19 cases due to people ignoring social distancing practices during Christmas and the New Year.

The shipping industry is seeing an historic boom this holiday season. Already strained during the pandemic, an influx in holiday shipping and online ordering is overwhelming the system and sparking delays. According to ShipMatrix, a software company that tracks millions of packages, the shipping industry is handling about 80 million packages a day. They estimate about 2-3 million are delayed….

Mondays are typically days off for folks who work in the restaurant industry, but this Monday, owners, employees, servers and chefs say they don’t have time to waste as they rallied at the governor’s residence. They said they’re fighting to keep their industry alive. From Thomaston to New Haven, Litchfield to Avon to Danbury, industry employees, those currently out...

This season, folks are looking for an extra bit of magic and holiday cheer in their homes and it has skyrocketed the demands for real live Christmas trees.  Russell Trent, the owner of Mark’s Christmas Tree Farms, has a message for families going into the holiday season. “If you like a tree, get out here in the next week or...

Several New London nonprofit art organizations will receive grant funding to aid in COVID-19 relief. The state announced that they will provide $9 million in grant funding to 154 nonprofit art organizations in Connecticut this month under a new program to support the state’s arts community. The program uses federal CARES Act funding from the state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund, according…

The shelves at Norwich Free Academy’s in-school food pantry are bare. The pantry became depleted when the pandemic first hit. Since then, it has been a challenge to keep the shelves stocked as the need only grows. “The need just got much bigger. Families lost their jobs,” said Shirley Kutia, who runs the food pantry and the free clothing...

After several weeks of COVID-19 case numbers trending downward, public health officials are starting to track an uptick in cases in Norwich again. They are urging people living in the city to remain vigilant. Norwich was placed under a COVID Alert in the beginning of October. The city experienced its highest two week daily case rate during the weeks of…

Advocates for people living in long-term care facilities met on Monday to discuss the need to maintain visitations during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is a dire need,” Mairead Painter, Connecticut Long-Term Care Ombudsman told NBC Connecticut. “These residents have been living what we lived in March, since then, without any real relief.” Painter is a member of the state’s...

The City of New London is preparing for Election Day by making plans to maintain social distancing and safety at city hall for same day registration and voting at other polling locations. For the first time during the pandemic, New London City Hall will be opened to the public from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. Voters will…

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing some municipalities, such as New London, to make some changes to ensure everyone is safe while trying to register to vote on Election Day.

The Town of Groton is now under a red alert status, joining 18 other towns on the list this week. Red alert towns are updated on a weekly basis. Towns are put under a red alert when the average daily case rate meets or exceeds 15 cases per 100,000 population. The Town of Groton was added to the list Thursday…

The Town of Putnam is taking down concrete barriers that were put into place for temporary outdoor dining amid the pandemic, according to Mayor Barney Seney. Barriers will be removed, weather dependent, between Nov. 2 and Nov. 6. The town provided the barriers in May, blocking off parking spots on Main Street, in order to accommodate restaurants that did not…

Local and state leaders continue to monitor rising COVID-19 numbers in southeastern Connecticut. Ledge Light Health District, covering East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, Lyme, New London, North Stonington, Old Lyme, Stonington, and Waterford, recorded 154 new cases district-wide last week. That is up from an average of five new cases a week in mid-August. Uncas Health District, covering Bozrah, Franklin, Griswold,...

The City of Norwich is under a COVID-19 alert from the Department of Public Health, as cases in the city continue to climb. According to DPH, the city is now experiencing the highest daily case rate in the state. In the last eight days, 119 Norwich residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, COVID-19. For comparison, in early August about…