Lamont: Daily COVID positivity rate dips slightly
“I think we can manage the delivery. Whether (because of coming snow) everybody’s going to get vaccinated on Friday or Thursday, we’ll see.”
Gov. Ned Lamont
The state’s daily COVID-19 positivity rate dipped slightly Tuesday as Gov. Ned Lamont said the approaching snowstorm should not impede on the vaccine deliveries.
The 5.98 percent positivity rate was a marginal drop — a tenth of a percent — down from the weekend.
“Under 6 percent, as I like to think,” Lamont said, noting the state’s daily positivity rate has recently increased above 8 percent and has remained above 7 percent in the past week. “That’s a trend, but it’s too short to extrapolate from.”
The state’s daily report on Tuesday showed 1,470 new cases of COVID-19 found among 24,580 tests.
The number of patients hospitalized for the virus increased by 26, bringing the statewide total to 1,269.
Another 22 deaths attributed to the virus were reported, bringing Connecticut’s death toll to 5,466.
The governor gathered a news conference inside a state Department of Transportation garage in Hartford Tuesday to provide an update on the state’s preparations for the winter storm expected to surge through the region Wednesday night. The storm is forecast to bring high winds and dump up to 18 inches of snow in some parts of the state.
The storm is predicted to hit as Connecticut hospitals continue to receive doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Lamont said most of the 32,600 doses of the vaccine Connecticut expects to receive from Pfizer this week should arrive by late Wednesday.
He predicted the storm would not affect delivery of the vaccine, but could hinder distribution efforts later in the week.
“I think we can manage the delivery,” Lamont said. “Whether everybody’s going to get vaccinated on Friday or Thursday, we’ll see.”
The FDA announced Tuesday its preliminary analysis of the vaccine candidate developed by Moderna confirmed the shot was safe and effective, the Associated Press reported. The agency could rule on an emergency use authorization for that vaccine later in the week.
Like the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna’s two-dose shot also uses messenger RNA to trick a person’s cells into producing the virus’ spiky protein that gives it its distinctive shape. The person’s immune system then develops antibodies against the protein— and the virus.
Hartford Health Care received 1,950 doses of the vaccine Monday and began inoculating staff that same day Yale New Haven Health, Stamford Hospital, St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport and Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford were all scheduled to begin vaccinating staff Tuesday.
On Monday, a nurse working in an Intensive Care Unit at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York became the first person to receive the vaccine in the U.S. after it had been cleared for emergency use by the FDA, the Associated Press reported.
Sandra Lindsay said she felt fine after receiving the injection, which was broadcast live during a press conference with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the New York Times reported.