Sen. Hwang Covid-19 Update for the week of September 7, 2020

The Office of the Governor provided the following updates as of 4:00 p.m. on Friday, September 11, 2020:

Data updates on testing in Connecticut

The following is a summary of the day-to-day newly reported data on cases, deaths, and tests in Connecticut.

County-by-county breakdown:

For several additional graphs and tables containing more data, including a list of cases in every municipality, visit ct.gov/coronavirus and click the link that is labeled, “COVID-19 Data Tracker.”

For more information visit ct.gov/coronavirus and click the link that is labeled, “COVID-19 Data Tracker.”

Governor Lamont signs 69th executive order related to COVID-19

Executive Order No. 9A enacts the following provisions:

• Reissuance and extension of COVID-19 executive orders to November 9, 2020: Renews and extends all of the unexpired executive orders that were issued under the March 10, 2020, public health and civil preparedness emergency declarations through November 9, 2020, unless an order already has a specific expiration date, in which case the specific expiration date will remain in place.

• Extension of agency and municipality orders of concurrent duration with public health and civil preparedness emergencies: Extends all unexpired orders, rules, regulations, directives, or guidance issued by any official, agency, department, municipality, or entity to continue through November 9, 2020, unless earlier modified or terminated.

Weekly update to the regional travel advisory: Four states added, two states removed

The regional travel advisory between Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York that directs incoming travelers from states with a significant community spread of COVID-19 to self-quarantine for a 14-day period was updated today and now includes Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia on the list of impacted locations. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been removed from the list.

The quarantine applies to any person traveling into Connecticut from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10 percent test positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.

The list of impacted locations is updated once per week every Tuesday. As of today, the full list of impacted locations falling under the travel advisory includes:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• California
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Guam
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Mississippi
• Montana
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

Anyone seeking the most up-to-date information on the regional travel advisory, including an extensive list of frequently asked questions, is encouraged to visit the state’s coronavirus website at ct.gov/Coronavirus/travel.

Weekly update on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes and assisted living facilities

The following documents contain the weekly data regarding each of the nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Connecticut that have reported positive cases of COVID-19 among their residents. The data is presented as it was reported to the state by each of the facilities. If a facility is not listed, that means it is reporting that it does not have any residents who have tested positive.

Connecticut approved for two additional weeks of $300/week lost wages assistance; Claimant certification begins within a week

The Federal Government has approved the State of Connecticut for an additional two weeks of Lost Wages Assistance supplemental benefits. Lost Wages Assistance is the new federal program funded by $44 billion in Stafford Act disaster relief. It will provide an additional $300 per week for any claimant who has a weekly benefit of at least $100 (including the dependency allowance) and who has become unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID-19.

Existing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claimants have already self-certified and do not need to do anything to receive the additional benefit. New unemployment claimants and existing state and extended benefits claimants who are required to self-certify are notified by letter or email that they are eligible and may self-certify when the program is open. CTDOL is currently testing self-certification and opening the program to small groups of people over the course of the next few days. Payments will be disbursed in mid-September when the self-certification testing is complete and widely available to all.

To self-certify:

• Claimants log into their unemployment account, where the account main page offers a new option in the menu “Certify for Lost Wages Assistance.”
• Once a claimant has clicked on the button, a new screen will ask them to certify that their unemployment or underemployment is due to COVID-19.
• The claimant then confirms their submission and has completed the process.

Federal eligibility guidelines include:

• Recipients of at least $100 per week, including the dependency allowance, of any of the following benefits for the week they are seeking unemployment benefits;
• Claimants receiving unemployment compensation, including state and federal workers and former service members, as well as those receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Extended Benefits, or High Extended Benefits;
• Claimants who are part of the Shared Work Program; and
• Workers with a Trade Readjustment Allowance.

A total of five weeks of Lost Wages Assistance will be paid in addition to regular unemployment weekly benefits and will be retroactive to the claim week beginning July 26, 2020. It will also be available for claim weeks beginning August 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2020. Claimants will receive the supplemental benefit in several payments; the first payment of $300 will be issued mid-September, with the remainder of retroactive payments following in two or three separate payments.

FEMA will terminate the program once available federal funding is exhausted or if the federal government passes legislation that replaces the program. The program is expected to provide $375 million in additional unemployment benefits to Connecticut claimants.

CTDOL estimates that about 250,000 claimants will be eligible for the funding. The agency will continue to release updates as they become available on the CTDOL Federal Supplements webpage and send them directly to anyone who signs up for “Info to your Inbox” on the agency’s homepage.

FEMA extends approval of non-congregate sheltering program through October 1

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a 30-day extension of the non-congregate sheltering authorization under the FEMA Public Assistance program through October 1, 2020. Learn more.

Additional SNAP benefits coming September 17 to nearly 109,600 households in Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Social Services will provide over $16.5 million in Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) Benefits to nearly half of Connecticut’s SNAP participants on Thursday, September 17, 2020 – adding to the $100.6 million in emergency benefits disbursed in April, May, June, July, and August.

Authorized by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, the extra food benefits will go to nearly 109,600 households that are not currently receiving the maximum benefits allowed for their household size. This means that all households enrolled in SNAP will receive the maximum food benefit allowable for their household size, even if they are not usually eligible for the maximum benefit. Learn more here.

For additional information about SNAP, visit www.ct.gov/SNAP.

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