Old Saybrook’s efforts to ready the town for a possible local appearance of COVID-19 (or coronavirus 2019) focus on the local community as well as advocating for improved statewide preparedness.

Locally, “[w]e’re trying to partner with all of our key demographics: the elderly community, town government. We’re hoping to meet with the Board of Education to speak with them in the coming weeks,” said Police Chief Michael A. Spera, who serves as the town’s emergency management director. “And obviously we’re working with our public health partners at CRAHD [Connecticut River Area Health District] and at the state level.”

Part of that work entails reviewing lists of supplies on hand as well as lists of supplies that are available, Spera explained.

“These are always our jobs,” Spera said of emergency management professionals, going on to list “resources, equipment, plans, and our partnerships” as crucial components of emergency planning.

“The responsibility falls right now on me as the emergency management director and Scott Martinson as the regional public health director” at CRAHD, Spera said. “If there were a town-wide state emergency then I, as the emergency management director, would coordinate our town’s response on behalf of the first selectman.”

Statewide Preparedness

Spera is president of the Connecticut Emergency Management Association (CEMA), which represents emergency management professionals and leaders throughout the state. In that capacity, he wrote a letter in late February to Governor Ned Lamont expressing CEMA’s sense of urgency as well as providing recommendations for actions the governor can take.

The scarcity of personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks, and gowns has led to the concern that “once public safety agencies, physician offices, urgent care centers, and hospitals deplete their supply...there will be none available,” the letter states.

It then asks Lamont to request an allotment of these items from the Strategic National Stockpile, the federal government’s “largest supply of potentially life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out,” according to the website of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The letter also urges Lamont to ask the U.S. Department of Labor to temporarily suspend fit testing protocols that apply to some employees who would need to use N95 respirators in a health emergency. Last, it suggests that the governor consider partially activating the State Emergency Operation Center and assigning the state’s emergency management professionals with tasks including auditing resources, revising and activating plans, assessing quarantine facilities, reviewing vaccination procedures, and conducting briefings for state officials on preparedness efforts across the state.

“I believe that the emergency professionals at the state level are doing as much as they possibly can do,” said Spera. “However, you’ll notice in my letter that we call upon the governor to do specific things that only he can do.”

Spera took part in a Feb. 28 discussion with Senator Blumenthal at the Hartford Public Library to which the public was invited. The panel consisted of officials and experts in public health, government, infectious disease, and emergency management, who discussed “the needs of first responders and hospital emergency personnel,” Spera said.

“I truly applaud Senator Blumenthal’s hard work to make sure that funds are available to assist us in getting supplies,” Spera said. “One of the problems is, even if we have a specific amount of money to buy things, the things we need are not readily available.”

Preparedness for Residents

One of the most important things residents can do is “tune to in to factual information,” said Spera.

“The [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] is really the voice, the message we want people to hear,” he said. “If the matter becomes a local emergency, we will certainly give guidance.”

Preventing the spread of COVID-19 is not unlike containing the spread of flu, Spera explained: “[E]xcellent hand washing, and refraining from person-to-person contact, if possible, [and] covering your mouth when you sneeze.

“[I]t’s a time for preparedness, but not panic,” he continued. “The more we’re prepared, if something does happen, the less panicked we’ll be.

“We always tell people to be prepared to be without power and without water for 72 hours,” Spera said. “Have things in your household to self-sustain.

The website ready.gov has information about planning for disasters and has added information specifically about the coronavirus. It has information specifically tailored to kids and has lists of items—like flashlights, water, and first aid supplies—for creating a basic disaster supplies kit.

The supply list does not include face masks, however.

“We are not encouraging the general public to try and stock up on or wear face masks, gloves etc.,” Martinson said by email. “The CDC does not recommend that people who are feeling well to wear masks to protect themselves. It is critical that our first responders and the medical community have what they will need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”

How can residents know for sure whether there are cases here in the state?

CRAHD has “monitored some international travelers, per CDC protocol, for 14 days,” said Richardson.

“Testing [for COVID-19] is available in the state of Connecticut,” Spera said. “However, it does take a person to go see their doctor if they have these symptoms.

If someone has the symptoms—fever, coughing, difficulty breathing—”it’s important for them not to go to work but to go to their doctor,” he said.

Further information is available on the CRAHD website at www.crahd.net.