CT now averaging more than 1,000 cases a day
Here are the most important things to know about the coronavirus in Connecticut:
CT now averaging more than 1,000 cases a day
As of Monday, the state is averaging more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases a day, a level not seen since April 26. There have been more than 1,000 new cases reported by the state every day this week. The highest number of average daily cases since the pandemic began was April 22, when there were an average of 1,102 new cases. It is important to note, however, that many of these cases may be asymptomatic. Early in the pandemic, the state was conducting significantly fewer tests, and then only on patients displaying symptoms consistent with a coronavirus infection. More recently, the state has ramped up testing, which may be identifying a significantly larger number of positive cases.
Case continue to climb: 1,574 new cases reported
The state announced 1,574 new COVID cases Wednesday and 36 new hospitalizations, bringing the number of patients currently hospitalized for the virus to a total of 584. Nine more deaths were reported, raising the cumulative amount to 4,716 deceased. The positivity rate is 4.7 percent, a decrease from a high of 6.7 percent on Tuesday.
‘Entitled’ people are less likely to comply with guidelines, research says
Are you entitled? If you have a sense of entitlement, you’re less likely to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, according to a survey of three studies conducted by researchers from Cornell University. Not only were “people higher in psychological entitlement” more likely to believe that “the threat of the virus was overblown,” but they “were also more likely to report that they had contracted COVID-19.”
Cell phone data uncovers ‘superspreader’ locations for infections
Using cell phone data, researchers mapped what they called “mobility networks,” tracking and mapping the “hourly movements of 98 million people” from major metro areas across the United States as they went to and from “points of interest” such as restaurants and religious establishments. They found that “a small minority of ‘superspreader’ [points of interest) account for a large majority of infections.” The study, published this week in the journal Nature, also suggests that restricting occupancy at specific points of interest would be more effective than “uniformly reducing mobility.”
Researchers find rapid tests to be about 99 percent accurate
Researchers went to a public plaza in San Francisco and tested the Abbott Labs rapid coronavirus test on 878 subjects, and found that it was spot on about 99 percent of the time, producing a false positive only very rarely.
Connecticut has been expected to receive thousands of the $5, 15-minute tests, as Gov. Ned Lamont announced in October.
The tests were accurate regardless of symptoms, researchers said.