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A staff worker disinfects the stairway hand rail at Hartford City Hall. Credit: Yehyun Kim / ctmirror.org
Aleena Chaudry, 16, works the polls at the New Haven Free Public Library on Election Day 2020. An election worker tested positive for COVID-19, but the worker had not been in the office since Thursday. The 12 people the worker had been in contact with did not have any contact with voters on Tuesday, officials said. Credit: Isabella Zou

An election worker in New Haven has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting a dozen other employees in the city clerk’s office to go into quarantine, officials said Wednesday.

The worker has not been in the office since Thursday of last week. The 12 employees who were in contact with the infected worker will isolate for 14 days.

Maritza Bond, New Haven’s director of public health, said the dozen staff members were temporary election workers. They remained in the clerk’s office throughout Election Day and did not have contact with voters, she said. So far, none of them has shown symptoms.

“Should any employee develop any symptoms, they should consult with their medical provider for testing,” Bond said. “The employee who tested positive showed initial systems of COVID-19 last Thursday and has not returned to work since then. They received their COVID-19 test results yesterday, Election Day, indicating that they had tested positive.”

City hall and city clerk offices were cleaned late Tuesday.

City Clerk Michael Smart contacted the Secretary of the State’s office Wednesday seeking additional support to complete election operations. City officials said most of the remaining work is data entry into the state election reporting system.

Positivity rate hovers around 4%

Connecticut’s COVID-19 positivity rate remained just above 4% Wednesday.

With an additional 530 cases, the state reported a 4.2% positivity rate, down from 4.6% on Tuesday.

Eleven additional deaths were recorded Wednesday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 4,645. Hospitalizations declined by seven; as of Wednesday, 374 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Connecticut.

Jenna is a reporter on The Connecticut Mirror’s investigative desk. Her reporting on gaps in Connecticut’s elder care system prompted sweeping changes in nursing home and home care policy. Jenna has also covered lapses in long-term care facilities, investigated the impact of cyberattacks on hospitals, and uncovered the questionable dealings of health ministry groups that masquerade as insurance. Her reporting sparked reforms in health care and government oversight, helped erase medical debt for Connecticut residents, and led to the indictments of developers in a major state project. Her work has been recognized by the National Press Foundation and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before joining CT Mirror, she was a reporter at The Hartford Courant, where she covered government in the capital city with a focus on corruption, theft of taxpayer funds, and ethical violations.

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