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Cinnamon St. John, a senior health policy specialist at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said proper staffing is at the heart and soul of every nursing facility.

In Connecticut’s 233 nursing homes, over 4,100 residents have suffered COVID related deaths, and there have been over 28,000 COVID cases.

“Perhaps one of the most important lessons to come out of the COVID-19 crisis is the realization that nursing home facilities must have the right numbers and mix of nursing and direct care workers on hand,”

A study in 2020 found that among facilities with one confirmed positive case of COVID, every additional 20-minute increase in nursing staff per resident, per day was associated with a 22% reduction in confirmed COVID cases, and a 26% reduction in COVID deaths.

Aside from staffing, lawmakers heard from the public about the importance of family visitation and air conditioning in nursing facilities.

Iline Tracey. How’s it going so far?

“It’s going great,” Brown said about his time at Cross so far. “People have been incredibly welcoming.”

Brown lives in the city. Three of his children are currently students at Wilbur Cross.

“There is an enormous amount of pride in that building,” he said. He said he’s been “impressed by the amount of love people have for this school, both what it has been and what it can be.”

What are some of the biggest challenges he’s seen facing the Cross community one month in to his new job as principal?

“Education prior to Covid and education post-Covid, the scale of the challenges has changed.” He said he’s worked in education for three decades. This moment three years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic feels unique.

“How do we make sure that we’re really utilizing our strengths and helping students to understand that they are resilient despite the fact that all of them have had interrupted educations because of Covid?” he asked. While New Haven may be nearing the other side of Covid as a “public health emergency,” “the effects of that, of having your schooling interrupted, are going to be with students for years and years.”

Thus one of the biggest challenges and opportunities he and his colleagues face. “How do we help [students] feel strong in what they know how to do even as we’re pushing them to be open to some of the things that they still have to learn. That’s something that, quite frankly, is going to take years.”

Any big-picture goals for his tenure as Cross principal?

Brown said he thinks that the school, which currently has around 1,642 students, making it the largest in the city, can be a “premier urban comprehensive high school” in the state. “I believe that’s a worthy goal.” He said that “Getting some of the resources and facilities” that the school needs like the now-started $4.35 million overhaul of the athletic complex “will be reflective of that. That’s the type of school that all of our students deserve to go to.”

What is a moment or experience that has stuck with him in his first month on the job so far?

Every morning, Brown said, “I stand right there in the atrium and welcome in all the buses and the walkers and the students getting dropped off. It’s this wave of diversity, in the age of students, the background of students, what they’re coming in with, who’s excited to show up, who’s a sleepy 15-year-old who maybe just rolled out of bed and maybe is not excited to show up. Just being able to connect with the students as they start their days, it’s the best part of my day. And those get to happen every morning.”

“It really affirms for me that Wilbur Cross is New Haven,” he continued. “It’s what our city is.”