State officials said Thursday that an additional 80 people are taking calls at the Vaccine Appointment Assistance Line, (877) 918-2224, bringing the number of people at United Way answering phones to 130, and that people will be able to book through that number at six sites statewide.
Gov. Ned Lamont said many of these 80 people had been doing contact tracing before.
Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said that in addition to Rentschler Field, the sites available Monday will be in Bristol, Danbury, Kent, Middletown and Stamford, with an announcement next week about sites in other parts of the state.
While that doesn't include southeastern Connecticut, CVS on Wednesday started administering the COVID-19 vaccine at stores in Waterford and Putnam, for people over age 75 and health care workers. Those who want to schedule an appointment can call 1 (800) 746-7287 or visit cvs.com/vaccine.
People 75 and older also can schedule an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at Walgreens, which has participating stores in Putnam, Dayville, Jewett City, Moosup, Canterbury, Stafford Springs, Canaan, Torrington and Litchfield. Scheduling can be done at walgreens.com.
Vaccinations are going to start at correctional facilities on Monday. Acting Department of Correction Commissioner Angel Quiros said Thursday morning that the vaccine will be available to 5,400 staff members and to the 27 incarcerated people over 75.
Geballe said vaccinating the rest of the prison population is "still in the planning phase."
Asked if there is a situation where staff might be required to be vaccinated to be around inmates, Lamont said, "Not at this point." He thinks that as staff see others get the vaccine, confidence will increase.
Geballe later added, "Employers have the option, legally, to require vaccination. It's not something that we plan as a state. As the governor mentioned before, we're very optimistic we'll have good uptake among our employees as they become eligible."
Also next week, in terms of reopening, Lamont plans on easing restrictions on houses of worship; indoor religious gatherings are currently capped at 50% capacity and 100 people.
The governor said he's "been hearing from a lot of houses of worship for a while" but they "attract a particularly vulnerable population, folks who are older," hence why he wanted to wait until more seniors are vaccinated.
Geballe said that maybe in another two weeks, people between ages 65 and 74 can start getting vaccinated.
"As soon as we start to see any slack and the demand start to taper off, then we'll start to phase in 65 and above," he said, "so it's going to depend on the uptake, it's going to depend on can we get any more vaccines from the federal government, so it's not an exact science."
By the numbers
From Wednesday to Thursday, an additional 1,426 COVID-19 cases were reported in Connecticut out of 40,185 tests, a 3.55% positivity rate. The governor's office also reported that 44 more people died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 7,020, and hospitalizations decreased by 21, to 995.
On Thursday, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London had 30 COVID-19 patients and Westerly Hospital had 15.
As for the vaccine, 364,255 doses have been administered: 299,876 first doses and 64,379 second doses. Connecticut has gotten 35% of people over 75 vaccinated.
But Lamont noted that the vaccination rate for people over 75 has been lower among high-need populations, such as people living in multigenerational housing and people of color, as measured by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index. The governor said the state is making a special effort to focus on vulnerable communities.
The state will be getting 16% more first doses next week than this week, which Lamont said is primarily from the allocation of the Moderna vaccine.
Connecticut has been getting roughly 46,000 doses per week from the federal government, but Lamont said the state is equipped to handle 150,000. Geballe said that as of the beginning of this week, Connecticut had received a total of 495,000 doses.
Day Staff Writer Brian Hallenbeck contributed to this report.
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