Yale raises virus alert level as outbreak hits hockey team

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Yale University has closed two museums on campus, raised its alert status for the coronavirus and canceled athletic activities for the week after an outbreak infected at least 18 members of the men's ice hockey team.

The Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center for British Art were closed on Friday, a day after the university moved from a green alert to a yellow alert, signaling low to moderate risk.

A COVID-19 coordinator for the Ivy League university, Dr. Stephanie Spangler, said in a memo to campus that the infected hockey players and others who worked with them had been instructed to quarantine. She instructed people not to bring visitors from outside Yale onto the campus.

“This recent cluster, coupled with news of increasing cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut, are reminders that the virus is present in our community and we must exercise vigilance and caution in all of our activities,” Spangler wrote.

The two museums were closed for an unspecified period. They each had reopened to the public on Sept. 25.

In other virus-related developments in Connecticut:

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Nurses who went on a two-day strike amid disputes over pay and the availability of protective gear at a Norwich hospital have returned to work as contract negotiations continue.

More than 400 nurses went on strike this week at the William W. Backus Hospital in breakdown of contract talks between hospital management and the nurses’ union, which described struggles to get enough personal protective equipment.

Negotiations with Hartford HealthCare, which operates the hospital, were expected to resume on Friday, according to Backus President Donna Handley. She said licensed nurses from around the state provided care during the strike and patients were not put at risk.

Sherri Dayton, a Backus nurse and president of Local 5149, said hospital operations took a hit from the strike.

“It’s not business as usual in there, that’s for sure. They canceled elective surgeries for the two days of the strike, and they closed down two floors: progressive care and oncology,” Dayton said, according to The Day of New London.

The union and hospital management have been in contract negotiations since June.

Handley said before the strike nurses had been offered “significant” wage increases — 12.5% over three years — along with additional paid time off and a 2% decrease in health care premiums.

Backus nurses say they’re paid less than those at other area hospitals, while Backus is one of the most profitable hospitals in the state. They also say they have not had sufficient personal protective equipment during the pandemic and have had to repeatedly reuse gear including N95 masks.