During the holiday season, hospitals in Connecticut have become overpacked with 84.5% of Yale New Haven’s ICU filled with COVID-19 patients. As doctors encouragingly plead Governor Ned Lamont to shutdown in-door dining, gyms, and large gatherings for the community and the doctor’s benefit, Lamont has not shown any interest in implementing the suggested regulations from a letter sent by medical professionals. 

As of Dec. 20, 1,070 doctors, nurses and citizens have signed the official letter and an online petition sent to Lamont on Nov. 24 urging him to shut down in-door dining at restaurants, gyms and large gatherings in order to keep citizens safe, and help doctors lower the number of patients and stress along with that. 

However, as of Dec. 7, Lamont stated that he isn’t going to follow the doctors recommendations in their letter despite all of the apparent difficulties doctors and the community face. 

Connecticut hospitals face a lack of staffing due to the rapid rise in COVID cases, which is affecting the quality of the care given to the patients. 

“[I am] worri[ed] about the quality of care that patients will receive as medical workers are stretched thinner and thinner, and as workers are assigned duties outside of their usual specialty,” Dr. Davis said in an interview with Hartford Courant. 

As COVID-19 cases continue to increase, the amount of hospitalized patients with the deadly virus surpassed the number of people hospitalized in mid-May by 1,000. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are becoming more overwhelmed as COVID patients rapidly increase by the day.

The doctors are trying to treat the immense amount of patients hospitalized all at the same time, but are struggling according to Mass Live. 

Doctors and nurses feel that not only will hospitals become more tranquil if the proposed shutdowns are enacted, and the decrease in COVID cases would allow other institutions, such as schools, to remain open and give students a proper education once more. 

Recently, students have not been attending in-person learning because of the substantial increase in COVID cases and a concern for their safety. The majority of Staples students as well have been participating in the fully-remote learning option because they don’t want to possibly come in contact with anyone who has COVID, but it is affecting their learning experience in doing so. 

“I just want to be cautious and wait to reevaluate… I don’t want to [quarantine] everytime I am possibly exposed at school,” Nikki Sternberg ’23 said. “I wish we can return to school because it gives me a better learning experience, but I don’t think it will be safe to do without a significant drop in [COVID] cases.”

Lamont stated he is taking the doctors recommendations seriously, yet he has no intention to shut down in-door dining, gyms or large gatherings. Lamont believes the doctors’ proposed shutdowns are unnecessary and that attendance at indoor spaces is a personal decision for Connecticut residents, according to the  Hartford Courant.

“We’re following [hospitalization metrics] really closely … and I think we’re going to have to wait a bit longer,” Lamont said at a Monday afternoon press briefing according to Hartford Courant. “Not everything results in closing things down.”