Active Coronavirus Cases Continue To Decrease In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — While the number of active cases of the coronavirus in Greenwich continued to decrease this week, town officials urge residents to remain cautious as vaccinations roll out in town.

During a press update Wednesday afternoon, town spokesperson Barbara Heins said the number of active cases in Greenwich was 106 as of Tuesday, a decrease of 29 from last week. She noted this continued a "downward trend" in active cases in town.

The total number of cases of the virus in town thus far is 4,123, an increase of 87 from last week, Heins said. Additionally, another resident died as a result of the virus within the past week, bringing the total to 83. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

Greenwich Hospital president Diane Kelly said the number of patients who have tested positive for the virus at the hospital is also "trending in the right direction." As of Wednesday morning, the hospital had 14 coronavirus patients in-house, two of which were being cared for in the facility's intensive care unit, Kelly said.

"These numbers continue to trend down," Kelly said, "so we're remaining very hopeful, and we are also seeing the number trending down throughout the [Yale New Haven Health] system, so all good news."

The hospital announced this week it would loosen patient visitation restrictions following "careful consideration and deliberate discussions" with clinical leadership.

"I will say that we're doing this in phases," Kelly said, "so we are happy that we can start to have visitors come in, but we are still restricting it to one visitor at a time and people need to check in at the desk and make sure that they don't have any risk factors."

Kelly said vaccination distribution in town is running "extremely well," and residents receiving vaccines appear to be "really happy" and grateful.

According to Heins, the growing number of residents receiving vaccines and the weather getting nicer will likely have a positive impact on businesses in town.

She and Kelly both noted Tuesday's "fantastic" spring weather lead to increased foot traffic along Greenwich Avenue, and many restaurants in the area with outdoor seating had tables completely filled with customers.

"That's what we're hoping will continue to happen," Heins said, "but we don't want people to end up having a false sense of security because they have a vaccine. They still really need to follow [safety] protocols...we want people to be able to enjoy [themselves], but still remain very cognizant that this is not going away anytime soon, and that we really do need to follow what we've been doing for the past year."