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The Greenwich Weekly Newspaper: local, local, local.
January 7, 2022
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Back Countr y | Banksv ille | Belle Haven | By ram| Chickahominy | Cos Cob | Glenv ille | Old Greenw ich | Pember w ick | R iverside | Bedford, N Y
The Local News You Need to Know COVID UPDATE I n a joi nt up date on We d ne sday, F i rst Selectman Fred Camillo and Greenwich Hospital president Diane Kelly, DNP, RN announced that Greenwich Hospital was treating 60 COVID positive patients, five of whom were in the ICU. Town wide, 466 cases were being monitored as of Wednesday. Kelly attributed the increased number of cases to the highly transmissible new omicron variant saying the challenges associated with this surge are different. Kelly said that, like elsewhere, COVID is affecting staffing levels, with 60 staff members out this week. “Some people are out and not feeling well, and some people are positive, and they can’t come in. These are new challenges.” She continued, “What we’re seeing is a different level of acuity. If you’ve been vaccinated twice, some of these people are still sick and requiring hospitalization. The very small group of people needing hospitalization that have had the booster, those people have other underlying issues, whether they’re being treated for cancer or have other immunosuppressant issues going on.” In response to a question about working with Greenwich Hospital, Fred Camillo said that “Greenwich Hospital has been terrific since day one and we certainly could not do it without them, the information they have given and cooperation they have given has been tremendous. It has helped calm people knowing we have such a great partner. We’re lucky. Not many towns actually have a hospital and a really good one. The health department has been there since day one as well.” In a separate briefing the Governor’s office announced there are currently 1,676 COVID patients hospitalized throughout the state, 67.3 Please turn to page 7
A 10 Reaction to a 1 Infraction
Record Real Estate Year Wraps Up
a goal that most people thought we would never see, and we did it on the last business day of 2021. Pre-Covid, our 2019 sales were only 528 sales, so we are looking at sales up 90% in just two years and we were up 16.8% this year over 2020; a year when many towns outside of Greenwich saw By Mark Pruner lower sales. For example, both Darien and 1,000+ Sales Fairfield saw single family home We broke 1,000 sales in 2021, sales decline in 2021, not because
of any drop in demand, but due to lack of inventory. In Darien sales dropped 3.4% and in Fairfield sales dropped an amazing 14%. Greenwich was not immune to such drops. Under $600,000 our sales were down 53% as many of the houses in our lowest price range appreciated over $600K, but that still didn’t raise sales from $600,000 to $800,000. In that price range, our sales were down 17% from 54 sales in 2020 to 45
sales in 2021. We also saw sales drop from $1.5 to $2.0 million, from 154 sales in 2020 down to 139 sales in 2021 and this is in the heart of our market in Greenwich. If sales were down in some price ranges, overall sales were up 16.8%, that means that we had to see big jumps in other price ranges and we did. Our biggest gainer by numbers of sales was from $2 – 3 million, where we had 59 more Please turn to page 10
Greenwich Gives Out COVID Test Kits Illustrated by Wajih Chaudhry
By Jill S. Woolworth, LMFT
Having a “10” reaction to a “1” infraction is usually a reaction to old pain, probably from childhood. If we feel betrayed, abandoned, rejected, insulted, or misunderstood, and our reaction sucks more energy out of u s t h a n we w a nt to expend, it helps to ask ourselves when we f irst experienced similar feelings. Chances are, we were powerless children then. We are adults now. When the intensity of our response is out of proportion to the “1” infraction, it helps to ask ourselves: how do we—as g row n-ups—want to respond? As adults, we have the ability to override ou r responses rooted in childhood trauma and lay down new memory track. W it h i ntent ion a l it y a nd
practice, we can teach ourselves to have “1” reactions, even when they weren’t modeled for us. When Tiffany was 19, the man in the seat next to her on a small plane offered to put her backpack in the overhead bin. As he did so, the blueberry yogurt in the side pocket of Tiffa- ny’s backpack exploded on his white shirt. His calm “1” reac- tion to this event amazed her even more when she learned that he was a college president en route to give a speech. Years later, as CEO of a company, she shared this lesson with her team. Excerpted from Greenwich resident, Jill Woolworth's, b o o k , T h e Wa t e r w h e e l , available at Diane’s Books, Dogwood Bookstore, Amazon, and barnesandnoble.com. Jill is a therapist at the Greenwich Center for Hope & Renewal.
A procession of cars snaked around Grass Island Park on a bright and chilly January afternoon as Greenwich residents lined up in their vehicles this past Tuesday to pick up take-home COVID test kits and masks. At the end of the Grass Island loop, police greeted locals with smiles and warm wishes for the new year as they handed out Flowflex COVID tests and N-95 masks to residents from a pickup truck loaded with boxes of masks and test kits. Another test kit distribution site was set up at the rear entrance on Bruce Place by the Greenwich Senior Center for residents who were 60 years of age or older. Captain Mark Zuccerella expressed gratitude for town workers from the Parks Department, Cos Cob Fire Police, and Greenwich Senior Center. Zuccerella estimates that close to 20% of Greenwich’s population is over 60 and said there are plenty of people who would not be able to make it to the distribution sites. He says the people at the Greenwich Senior Center are working with the town to give test kits out to those who could not make it. The First Selectman’s office said that originally the number of kits expected was 8,010 kits containing two tests per kit, adding up to 16,020 total tests. Unfortunately, the town only received 6,000 test kits with only one test per kit. After the print edition was published, the Town received additional test kits from the State. Those kits will be distributed while supplies last and free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis to Greenwich residents from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at Grass Island Park.
What’s in the January Sky By Albert Huang Grab a pair of binoculars or even a telescope and bundle up to see some celestial streaks in the sky! The comet C/2019 L3 ATLAS f lies by our solar system this month and reaches perihelion on January 10th, meaning it will be at its closest point to the sun. This comet actually does not orbit Earth, which means this is a once in a lifetime chance to see its faint trail high in the southern sky.
If you have access to a tele scop e , on Ja nua r y 18t h, comet 104P/Kowal will be flying high in the southern horizon in the constellation Cetus and on the 20th, comet 19P/Borrelly will reach its brightest right after sunset. Don’t sweat it if you only have your naked eye because du r i n g t h e s e e a rl y d ay s o f January if you go out for viewing right after sunset, you’ll be able to catch a rare glimpse of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter all in a line.
On the night of the 8th, take about 15 minutes to get adjusted to t h e d a rk n e s s or b r i n g a camera to point at the nebulas hidden within the constellation of Orion. The moon will set right around 11:30 with Orion high in the sky. You may be able to catch a glimpse of the nebulosity of nebula M42 in the center of Orion’s sword with the naked eye. On January 11th, Mercury is in great visibility at its evening peak above the southwestern hor i zon. Wit h t he help of a
stargazing app and neighbor Venus, you can locate the first planet right after sunset during twilight hours. O u r si s te r pl a ne t Ve nu s is get ting physica l ly closer, meaning the apparent diameter of the second planet will appear much larger. If you’ve got a pair of binoculars you can get a beautiful image of a crescent Venus during this month. Mars will be an early morning planet at the start of 2022. On the 29th of this month, you’ll be able to spot the red
planet bright in the morning sky joined alongside Venus and a crescent moon. The gas giants Jupiter and S at u r n a r e s t i l l p r om i n e nt objects in the sky this month. As the year goes on the two bright dots in the sk y move closer towards the sunset twilight glow. Uranus shines on the edge of naked-eye visibility as usual but binoculars or a small telescope is still the best to try and spot the cyan dot. Neptune is in a great spot t o o b s e r ve b u t o n l y i f yo u
have a telescope at the ready. The icy blue giant sits right outside naked-eye v isibility range. However, if you do have a telescope, the planet will be patiently waiting in Aquarius high in the night sky. The next full Moon will occur on Monday, January 17, 2022, at 6:48 PM ET, and is known as the Wolf Moon. During a Wolf Moon wolves were more likely to howl to def ine territor y, locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, and coordinate hunting.