Corona Virus Update #8b - March 26, 2020

To:        All residents
From:    Steve Dunn, First Selectman

TOWN HALL CLOSED FRIDAY, MARCH 27

We learned this evening that a person who has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus was in Town Hall. With an abundance of caution and after discussing with the Director of Public Health, Town Hall will be closed tomorrow. We are trying to hire a company to do a deep clean of the building over the weekend.

Experts tell us that the virus does not live on surfaces longer than three days. Even though we have been cleaning the building daily, we want to keep our employees and the public safe by doing this additional cleaning.

We will decide this weekend if we can open Town Hall on Monday.

SELF DISTANCING

Brookfield has 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19, one of the state’s highest infection rates, based on population.

We have to make sure we are doing everything we can as a community to stop this pandemic. We can do that if each one of you, and your families, stays home and is extremely careful in public.

We will close the Still River Greenway starting Friday in an effort to help lower the infection rate. We ask that you do not go to our parks. We need every resident to leave the house only if absolutely necessary, to practice physical distancing at all times, and to wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds.

Remember that a very large percentage of those who have the virus have no symptoms and unwittingly may spread the virus. Here’s how you can help your fellow residents, many of whom are in the most vulnerable categories. Treat every encounter as meeting someone with the virus. Only in doing this can we successfully slow the spread of the disease.

When you shop, please do so by yourself, if possible. Do not allow your children to congregate in large groups, attend parties or sleepovers -- any activity that will bring children together.

[updated 8:40PM for town hall closure]