COVID-19 cases continue to drop in Connecticut
The state’s coronavirus numbers continue a downward trend, with Gov. Ned Lamont reporting on Thursday the lowest positivity rate since Halloween.
The number of positive COVID-19 cases increased by 937 from Wednesday with 29,864 new tests performed. There were 257,941 cases statewide as of Thursday and a positivity rate of 3.14% — the fourth best nationally.
“I think 3.14 seemed a little bit scary on Halloween but now it’s part of a trend line in the right direction ... meaning our infections are going down and our vaccinations are going up,” Lamont said. “Maybe the numbers today are indicative of coming back to a new normal.”
Hospitalizations dropped by 37, with a total of 837 people hospitalized in the state. Lawrence + Memorial Hospital reported 28 COVID-19 patients and Westerly Hospital, 10, while Backus Hospital had 30.
There were 28 more COVID-19-associated deaths reported, for a statewide total of 7,185. Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer, said individuals who die in the hospital contribute to the overall reduction in hospitalizations but represent a fraction of the reported decrease, since less than 10% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 die in the hospital.
The reason for the downward trend is likely due to a combination of factors, said Deidre Gifford, commissioner of the state Department of Social Services and acting commissioner of the Department of Public Health.
“I don’t think the downward trend that we’re seeing now is likely related to a really high percentage of people being immune because of natural infection,” Gifford said at Thursday’s briefing. “We just haven’t seen a large enough number of infections for that to be the case. It’s probably a combination of some people having immunity, vaccines starting to kick in, the mitigation strategies being effective and the natural course of these kinds of viral epidemics.”
Lamont said about half of eligible people age 75 or older had received at least the first dose of the vaccine as of Thursday. Percentages vary from town to town, with many of the smaller municipalities reporting higher percentages than large cities because of the logistics.
The state reported a total of 459,257 vaccine doses administered to date, 358,019 first doses and 101,238 second doses. Lamont said that a plan for scheduling vaccinations for people 65 and older will come within the next week or 10 days.
Lamont also announced Thursday that his administration will be delivering an additional $40 million to Connecticut’s acute care hospitals to support their ongoing work responding to the pandemic.
The funding, which comes from the state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund, will be distributed to nongovernmental, short-term general hospitals that meet certain requirements based on applicable costs and expenses incurred as a result of the pandemic. It supplements the more than $980 million direct federal funding received by the hospitals to date during the pandemic.
“This funding recognizes the (front-line) role Connecticut’s hospitals and their dedicated employees have played throughout this pandemic,” Lamont said in a statement. “It is not an overstatement to say that this role has been heroic and continues to be indispensable as we all work together to defeat the virus.”
Lawrence + Memorial is in line to receive $320,279, and Backus Hospital in Norwich, $308,581.
Day Staff Writer Brian Hallenbeck contributed to this report.
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