Positivity rate, COVID-19 hospitalizations up

Lamont says no pause on reopening Oct. 8

Connecticut’s COVID-19 numbers increased again Wednesday, state numbers show, as the state hit its highest number of hospitalized coronavirus patients since late June.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced 221 new COVID-19 cases out of 12,390 tests Wednesday making a second straight day of a 1.8% rate. Though Connecticut’s positivity rate remains lower than that of most other states, it has increased in recent weeks after hovering below 1% for much of the summer.

Connecticut now has 104 patients hospitalized with COVID19, up 12 since Tuesday and up 39% in just two days. The state had dipped as low as 42 hospitalizations in mid-August before an increase that was initially gradual but has now turned sharper.

Health officials and medical experts have attributed Connecticut’s recent increase to various factors, including colleges reopening, K-12 schools reopening, fatigue with social distancing measures, travel, small gatherings and more.

Lamont acknowledged Wednesday that Connecticut’s COVID-19 numbers were “spiking a little bit,” but said he plans to continue with the next phase of Connecticut’s reopening, currently scheduled for Oct. 8. That phase will allow expanded capacity for indoor dining and hair salons, private outdoor gatherings of up to 150 people, the reopening of indoor performing arts venues and more.

Lamont said he would consider delaying the Oct. 8 date if the state’s positivity rate reached 3% or 5%, “depending on how fast things happen.”

“If I saw it ramp up like I saw in Arizona and Florida, the speed at which that would be happening, that would give me real concern,” Lamont said. “But right now we’re not there.”

Connecticut recorded three coronavirus-linked deaths Wednesday, bringing its total during the pandemic to 4,508. The United States has nowseen 206,615 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.

Though Connecticut has more patients hospitalized with COVID19 than it’s had in months, Lamont said hospitalizations aren’t a key metric when it comes to reopening. He thinks of hospitalizations in terms of capacity, he said, and for now Connecticut hospitals are nowhere near capacity.

“I [used to] consider hospitalizations every minute in April. I don’t think about it quite as severely now because we [have] so much capacity,” Lamont said. “I think about infection rate as the spike. If it went from 1% to 2% to 4% in a week, you’d have my attention.”

Lamont said although he looks at statewide metrics when considering the next phase of reopening, he advises school superintendents based on regional data, which might indicate that some districts should temporarily close their buildings even while other districts remain open.

Lamont said the coming months will be crucial, as Connecticut navigates COVID-19 and the flu simultaneously despite residents’ desires to return to their pre-pandemic lives.

“There is a lot less quarantining going on today than there was six months ago,” he said, “and you combine that with the flu season.”

State expands rental relief, eviction moratorium

Lamont announced Wednesday he would double funding for a state rental relief fund from $20 million to $40 million, while also extending the state’s eviction freeze through January 1.

The Te mp o r a r y Rental Housing Assistance Program provides payments to landlords on behalf of approved tenants who are behind on their rent. According to the Connecticut Mirror, the program has received an overhaul in recent days after news that only two families have received assistance during the pandemic.

The eviction moratorium, meanwhile, protects tenants who were current on their rent at the start of the pandemic and have paid at least a portion of what they owe since.

“Public health experts at the CDC have determined that supporting renters and landlords during this public health crisis is critical to controlling the spread of COVID-19,” Lamont said in a statement.

“I’m trying to get people back to work and children back to school, and having a home you can call your own is a critical foundation for making that happen,” Lamont said.

Additionally, Lamont announced the Community Resource Coordinator program, which will work with contact-tracing teams and community-based organizations to provide food, housing support, masks, thermometers and more to residents needing to quarantine due to COVID-19 infection or exposure.

UConn adds more cases as dorm lifts quarantine

UConn currently has 53 active confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases on campus, the university said Wednesday, up eight from Tuesday.

Of eight new cases, six are residents of Belden Hall, which was placed under quarantine last week for fear of coronavirus spread. UConn has now recorded 196 COVID-19 total cases on its Storrs campus, plus another 164 among off-campus students.

The school on Wednesday lifted its quarantine of Eddy Hall, which had lasted 10 days. According to an email sent to students there, spread in the dorm has “dropped precipitously,” with no new cases in the past week.