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Connecticut’s COVID vaccineeligibility expands Friday to those45 and older as the state projectsthe supply to move closer to meet-ing demand.

State data shows Connecticutwill balance a rush of roughly200,000 newly eligible people

against a weekly supply ofaround 130,000 to 140,000 firstdoses — the narrowest margin todate. But it remains unclear if thiswill translate to an easy vaccineappointment process.

“As we get these younger agegroups, we’re able to do it faster,we’re getting a lot more vaccines,and also it does appear that theremight be a slightly lower take-rate

as well,” Gov. Ned Lamont saidThursday.

As Connecticut expands vac-cine eligibility and lifts manyCOVID restrictions on Friday, thestate has identified its first case ofa variant originally found in Bra-zil.

Dr. Albert Ko, a Yale epidemiol-ogist who co-chaired the gover-nor’s reopening committee lastspring, said Thursday the strain,known as P.1, was found in NewHaven County.

“We know that these variants

Lamont: ‘We’re getting a lot more vaccines’Conn. expands vaccine eligibility as first case of new strain found

By Nicholas Rondinoneand Peter Yankowski

Paul W.Gillespie/CapitalGazette / Tribune NewsService

The PfizerCOVID-19vaccine is keptrefrigerateduntil it is neededand then dilutedfor injection.

See Vaccines on A4

BRIDGEPORT —When Rodney Daviswalked into St. Vincent’sMedical Center a yearago, he was ill with fever,headaches and troublebreathing. But the 21-year-old didn’t expect tobe diagnosed with CO-VID-19 and spend thenext month or so in amedically induced coma.

“I thought they wouldtake my temperature andI would go back home,”Davis said.

Instead, Davis, now 22,was at St. Vincent’s for

more than a month —much of it sedated — ashe recovered from CO-VID-19. He was the hos-pital’s first COVID pa-tient, and one of its big-gest success stories al-though he needed to beon a ventilator and re-quired critical care.

Thursday marked theone-year anniversary ofthe day Davis arrived atthe hospital, and it wascelebrated with a reunionbetween Davis and his“angels” who cared forhim there. Many of thedoctors and nurses who

Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

Rodney Davis, a COVID-19 survivor, waves as he enters the lobby of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeporton Thursday. The hospital welcomed Davis back for a news conference marking his first anniversary of beingdiagnosed with COVID-19.

‘You represented hope’St. Vincent’s staff reunite with COVID patient they saved

Rodney Davis, a COVID-19 survivor, speaks atThursday’s news conference in the lobby of St.Vincent’s Medical Center.

By Amanda Cuda

See Patient on A4

Gov. Ned Lamont’s ad-ministration announcedThursday a comprehensivedeal with the operators ofFoxwoods Resort Casinoand the Mohegan Sun re-sort and casino for sportsbetting and online gam-bling, a pact that has gar-nered bipartisan supportand was widely anticipatedafter the state reached aMohegan-only agreementearlier this month.

With the new deal, Con-

necticut aims to generatetens of millions of dollarsin new revenues, whilekeeping the state compet-itive with gaming beingoffered or considered inneighboring states. Amongits key provisions are an 18percent tax rate for the firstfive years on new onlinecommercial casino gaming,followed by a 20 percentrate for at least the next fiveyears. There would be a13.75 percent tax rate onsports wagering.

GOING ALL INFoxwoods joining pact makessports betting near certainty in CTBy Paul Schott

Foxwoods / Contributed photo

Plexiglass built onto blackjack tables at Foxwoods in 2020.

See Betting on A8

FAIRFIELD — A firmhas been selected to createthe emergency communica-tions center for Fairfieldand Westport and the leasewith Sacred Heart Universi-ty to house it there hasbeen amended, moving theproject closer to reality.

Officials selected PACGroup, based in Torring-ton, to fit out and renovate

the space for about $1.37million. The firm was thelowest of six bidders, saidGerald Foley, Fairfield’spurchasing director.

Foley said they held ascope review meeting withthat firm and the secondlowest bidder, RFG Associ-ates, out of Trumbull.

“Out of our scope reviewmeeting, everyone was inconsensus that that was the

Firm selected forFairfield, Westport$1.37M dispatch centerBy Katrina Koerting

See Dispatch on A8

STRATFORD — Three candidates haveannounced they will seek the Democraticparty’s nomination to challenge RepublicanMayor Laura Hoydick this November.

Immacula Cann, a nurse who is a mem-ber of the Democratic party’s statewidecentral committee, became the party’s firstofficial candidate Monday by filing pa-perwork in Town Hall.

The other two possible candidates haveannounced their interest but have not filed

paperwork. One is Stephanie Philips, whounsuccessfully ran against Hoydick in 2017.The other is Stratford School Board mem-ber Bob DeLorenzo.

During a meeting of the DemocraticTown Committee Wednesday night con-ducted via Zoom, Cann said she had thebacking of 50 of the committee’s 80 mem-bers.

“Because you’ve expressed that you over-whelmingly support me to represent notjust the DTC but represent our town, I

Three Stratford Democratsannounce intent to run for mayorBy Ethan Fry

See Candidates on A4