With the town announcing an additional seven confirmed cases of coronavirus among residents this week, one area of concern is seasonal residents returning to Madison from any number of places but particularly New York, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the United States.

In an update on March 27, First Selectman Peggy Lyons said the town was “strongly direct[ing]” any seasonal resident returning to Madison go into a 14 day self-quarantine to avoid spreading the virus. Lyons noted that the town is limited in its ability to enforce this or many other kinds of executive actions without the backing of the state.

“We don’t have the resources to send our police force, which is taxed enough, to [police] neighborhoods for people with New York plates,” she said.

The State of Rhode Island has met with pushback after trying to enforce a quarantine of out-of-state visitors specifically targeting New York license plates last week. Lyons said not only was this impractical and potentially impossible from a legal and logistical standpoint, but also would be unlikely to stem the tide of coronavirus infections.

“I think targeting specifically New York is not necessarily capturing other areas of people who come to this community,” Lyons said.

People with seasonal homes in Madison who live in Fairfield County could be just as much a risk, according to Lyons, and many others might bring relatives from New York and other “hot spots” who are not New York residents or drive New York registered cars.

What the town can do, Lyons said, is continue to tell people—wherever they are from—to practice social distancing and isolate if they are sick or have come in contact with someone infected with the coronavirus.

“Obviously we’re all concerned and we have a responsibility to self-quarantine, and it doesn’t matter if the person is from Madison or from Manhattan. They should be practicing that,” Lyons said. “I just don’t know how much more we can be doing at the local level without the governor taking action to enforce that.

“This is not a Madison crisis,” she said. “This is a regional crisis that’s happening.”

Enacting greater restrictions at the state level—Connecticut closing its border with New York, for instance—is not something Lyons said she thought was likely, or even the most effective solution, though she lauded the state for taking other “proactive measures.”

“Ultimately it comes down to people being responsible, and staying home, and not traveling,” Lyons said.

Other Town Actions

As far as policy, Lyons told The Source that there’s not a whole lot the town can do that it isn’t already doing—continue to push the practices that have been reiterated over and over by public health professionals, and follow directives coming from the state.

Lyons said the town is continuing to plan for many eventualities, with no one really knowing how long or how devastating the crisis will end up being.

One of the most important resources for any community right now is personal protective equipment (PPE), which includes masks, gloves, and other types of specialized clothing that can prevent transmission of the virus. All of this gear has been in short supply across the country, with health care professionals and first responders needing to protect themselves as they carry out vital and life-saving work.

Lyons declined to say how much PPE the town currently had, or how long it was predicted to last. She said those predictions were difficult to make, though the town is “tracking” various models depending on how long and how bad the crisis becomes.

“Obviously this is very unpredictable, in terms of how the virus is going to impact our community,” she said.

There is enough PPE in town to “serve our needs currently,” according to Lyons. She said the town still “continues to need donations,” and that they “couldn’t rely on” getting masks and other gear from the state or federal government right now.

The town has already received some donations from private citizens or entities, Lyons said, and is also part of a regional purchasing entity that can get access to more PPE equipment through bulk buying.

“There’s been constant contact with Guilford, Branford, [and] other communities and the sharing of resources,” Lyons said.