By Jenna Carlesso and Kasturi Pananjady / CTMirror.org

As COVID-19 cases edge up in Connecticut and elsewhere, state Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said residents should assess who will be gathering with them for the holidays and consider personal protections based on the vaccination status of the group.

“If you have a fully vaccinated group of people and fully boosted group of people, I think you’re at your highest level of protection,” Juthani said Monday. “If you have somebody who’s a little bit more vulnerable in your group … wearing a mask is not a bad idea. That’s a self-preservation measure.”

Unvaccinated people planning to attend gatherings with family or friends are at the highest risk of both being infected at the time of the event and of contracting the virus.

Invitations should weigh risk levels

“It’s an uncomfortable decision for some people to have to weigh for themselves … What is their own risk? What is their comfort level in terms of those around them?” Juthani said. 

“Ultimately, you have to look at the risk level of those who are coming to your dinner.”

Gov. Ned Lamont said vaccinated residents who gather for the holidays are “OK.”

“If you’re all vaccinated, you’re OK. [If] you know who you’re sitting next to, you’re OK,” he said.

State officials also reiterated their encouragement for residents to get a vaccine booster shot ahead of the holidays. 

State presses booster vaccination campaign

As of Monday, 529,875 people in Connecticut had received a booster, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, representing 20.7 percent of the state’s fully vaccinated population.

Travelers will notice pop-up vaccine clinics in major transportation buildings like Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Union Station in New Haven and the Stamford Transportation Center, where they can get a booster shot while waiting for their flight or train, the governor said.

“Just walk up, take advantage of the vaccine or the testing,” he said. “If you haven’t gotten that booster yet, we’re making it as easy as possible for you to do that.”

COVID-19 booster shots are now open to everyone 18 and older at least six months after their initial doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. People who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine are eligible for a booster two months after their initial shot.

Connecticut’s daily positivity rate was 3.53 percent Monday. Hospitalizations rose by 21, reaching 268.

Schools — including Westport — host vaccination clinics

Since coronavirus vaccines were authorized for children 5 to 11 years old Nov. 2, more than 56,000 children in that age bracket have been immunized in Connecticut, officials said. 

Nearly 250 pharmacies, pediatrician offices and federally qualified health centers are administering the vaccine to children in that age group. 

To date, 417 school-based clinics have also been organized, including Westport — where a second dose of the Pfizer 5-11 vaccine will be administered Dec. 4.

Nursing homes are also arranging on-site booster shot clinics for residents and staff, many of whom received their initial doses more than six months ago. The state did not have a current number for how many nursing home residents had received a booster to date.

“We are on target for 70 percent of long-term care facilities in the state having a booster clinic for patients and staff by Thanksgiving,” Juthani said. “The remaining are the ones that we are helping to get a booster clinic done by Dec. 15.”

“Once a nursing home has a clinic, upwards of 95 percent of the residents have gotten boosted,” she added.

Under mandate, state employee vaccination rates inch higher

Updated numbers from the governor’s office show that 84 percent of state employees in executive branch agencies are vaccinated, a 3-percentage-point increase from when data were last released in October.

The increase is reflective of the number of vaccinated employees rising by nearly 900, while the denominator of total people employed by executive branch agencies decreased by about 100.

About 5 percent of state employees were non-compliant with the mandate, and 108 of them are facing some form of discipline over their refusal to get vaccinated or be tested weekly.

“We continue to have another several hundred that are in a state of non-compliance, but that are working to get compliant because a test result is late,” said Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer.

The state has committed to paying for weekly testing for those who are not vaccinated for the duration of the public health emergency, which currently runs through the middle of February.

Department of Correction workers continue to lag in vaccination rates and post the highest rates of testing. The agency also has the highest rate of employee non-compliance.

CTMirror reporter Mark Pazniokas contributed to this story.