The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘IT WAS REALLY MEANT TO BE A ROUTING SYSTEM’
COVID complaints about businesses not shared with local agencies
Under a state practice, thousands of reports raising concerns about COVID-19 protocols at Connecticut businesses were not investigated by the state or passed on to local health departments. Officials say that’s because while the data was used to inform policy decisions, the online form that collected those complaints was intended to direct users to the appropriate enforcement agency.
But one health director — whose district includes a hockey rink that was the subject of several such submissions and has been linked to numerous COVID-19 cases — expressed surprise over the practice, and wondered why the
complaints couldn’t have been shared.
“Why not forward it over to us, you know, or copy us?” asked Michael Pascucilla, director of the East Shore District Health Department, which serves Branford, North Branford and East Haven. “The faster it gets to us the faster it’s corrected.”
Instead, submissions were received and summarized by the state Department of Economic & Community Development, so that they could be “used to analyze trends or potentially inform shifts in policy,” agency spokesman Jim Watson said.
DECD Commissioner David Lehman said the intent of the mechanism was to tell people which agency had jurisdiction over their complaint based on factors such as location and whether or not the complainant was a business employee.
“The website does make clear who’s doing the enforcement to handle the complaint,” Lehman said.
The agency received between 300 and 500 complaints a week — around 8,000 since reopening began, according to Lehman.
‘A routing system’
When asked whether Lehman worried if users could have the impression that their complaints would be directly investigated, he said he had not received feedback to that effect and believed the language was clear.
The commissioner provided a sample of the response the form generates, based on a hypothetical complaint against an auto dealership.
“Thank you for logging your complaint. Your input will help the State understand what is and is not working as businesses reopen across Connecticut,” the response says.
“Local law enforcement is the agency authorized to address this type of complaint. You can find the appropriate non-emergency law enforcement phone number based on the town in which the business is located by clicking here.”
Because different agencies have differing complaint mechanisms, Lehman said, referring complainants was a “smoother” way to handle the reports.
“It was really meant to be a routing system,” he said. “It’s alerting the user that this is who’s handling this type of complaint.”
While the complaints submitted via the form were not shared with other agencies, Lehman said, the DECD has engaged in regular communication with other health departments.
Staff members often share information about other COVID-related issues that have come to their attention, according to Lehman, who added that local officials discuss the problems in their districts.
“I can’t stress enough the amount of dialogue that we have with local health departments and local municipalities around these issues,” he said. “There’s a lot of discussion and coordination there when there needs to be.”
Overlooked complaints
Hearst Connecticut Media uncovered how the DECD handles its complaints while investigating COVID-19 compliance at Connecticut ice rinks, which were the subject of at least 19 of the online form submissionsbymid-September, according to records obtained via a Freedom of Information request.
Rinks located on university and private school campuses were excluded from the request, which asked for all complaints about other rinks statewide.
A number of submissions were from folks worried about large hockey tournaments with participants from out of state.
At least one such tournament — the War at the Well, played in Connecticut in July and early August — was linked to COVID-19 cases in New York and Massachusetts.
Some of the tournament events were held at North Branford’s Northford Ice Pavilion, which was the subject of five of the DECD form’s responses between early August and early September, most airing concerns about such competitions, allegedly scheduled at the facility.
(While the dates and parts of some responses were cut off from the records, Watson, the DECD spokesman, provided that information.)
Pascucilla, the local health director, said while some indivuals who contact his agency may have received referrals from the state, he was certain the department did not receive five rink-related complaints during the month of August.
“The Northford Ice Pavilion, in close cooperation with public health authorities, has implemented a consistent set of protocols to protect the public, including, but not limited to mask rule enforcement, entry check-ins, spectator restrictions, and separation of exits,” rink manager Bill Maniscalco said when asked for comment.
One DECD complaint, submitted Aug. 18, alleged that the Northford Ice Pavilion was not enforcing mask-wearing.
“Multiple people just blatantly disregarding the rules and don't care what hourly employees tell them,” it reads.
The complainant, who indicated that management did not “back up their employees,” worried that people could get sick.
Last month, the Northford Ice Pavilion temporarily shut down after local health officials linked more than 20 COVID-19 cases to the location.
Pascucilla has said that due to travel associated with hockey, it was difficult to definitively determine whether the infected individuals had contracted the virus at that rink, even if they had visited it.
At least eighteen infections were among members of Yale University’s men’s varsity hockey team, according to the health director.
The rink has since reopened, Pascucilla said.
State action
Though the DECD did not investigate the individual complaints made online, they did analyze the responses and circulate analysis with other agencies, according to officials.
In some cases, the information informed policy decisions.
Lehman gave an example: the most common complaint type pertained to people who failed to wear face coverings, he said.
Based in part on that feedback, according to the commissioner, the state “dialed up enforcement” around mask wearing.
Hockey and other sports — and associated tournaments — have frequently been the subject of COVID-related discussions, Lehman said.
Until recently, the state had not tightened restrictions around hockey since reopening began.
“I think the reason you didn’t see anything over the summer, even the late summer, is because we had very low levels of COVID,” Lehman said, adding that surrounding states were opening their hockey leagues.
But late last month, on the heels of the Northford Ice Pavilion shutown, officials said they were mulling restrictions around the sport, with a focus on inter-state travel for tournaments.
Lamont on Thursday implemented new limitations around sports, requiring participants in medium-risk sports – including hockey – to wear face coverings.
The governor also banned tournaments for medium- and high-risk sports.
Lehman said the decision was part of a broader reopening deceleration brought on by rising infection rates.