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.