U.S. Surgeon General Visits Connecticut

Daniel Nesbitt ’22

News Editor

On Monday Mar. 2, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams toured Connecticut’s public health laboratory located in Rocky Hill. Per the Hartford Courant, the samples of two Connecticut residents were tested for coronavirus over the weekend at the Rocky Hill site–both residents tested negative. Speaking to reporters, the Surgeon General commented, “We cannot hermetically seal the United States. We’re encouraging communities to think about the steps they can take to limit the spread within communities to mitigate the effects of the virus.” 

Prior to the Surgeon General’s tour of the Rocky Hill facility, the Courant reported, Adams met in private with Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Connecticut Public Health Commissioner Renée D. Coleman Mitchell to brief them on the situation. In another press conference, Adams made clear, “I want folks to know that we’ve been here before. The coronavirus is new, but we’ve dealt with SARS, we’ve dealt with MERS, we’ve dealt with H1N1…We all have a playbook we are following to respond to the novel coronavirus.” He added, “If you are healthy, then in most cases you’ll have a mild illness like a bad cold or a flu…but you will recover.”

The Surgeon General’s visit was not a recent development but rather a plan that had been established months prior. Some of Adams’ other engagements, according to the Courant, included speaking events at both UConn Health and Yale University.

In the midst of the virus’s continual spreading, Blumenthal and other Democrats, per the Courant, “have called for a package of $8.5 billion in new federal funding, including at least $2 billion to reimburse local and state governments and $1 billion to help develop a vaccine whose development could be more than a year away.”

The Surgeon General told reporters, “It’s really simple. Wash your hands. Cover your cough. Clean your surfaces, and avoid other individuals who are sick or suspected to be sick.”