For second day, positivity rate 2%

Lamont calls uptick ‘not unexpected’ but ‘unnerving,’ says state is in good position to fight COVID-19

The state of Connecticut on Wednesday reported its second straight day with a 2% or higher positivity rate while hospitalizations continued to climb to numbers not seen since June.

The state said there were 164 positive cases out of 8,359 tests on Wednesday, yielding a positivity rate of 2%. One day earlier, on Tuesday, the state had reported an unusually high rate of 2.4%.

Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday said the uptick was “not unexpected, but it’s unnerving and a little exhausting.” He added that he feels the state is in a better position to combat COVID-19 than it was in the early months of the pandemic.

For months, the state had kept its positivity rate mostly below the gold standard of 1%. But that trend slipped in early September, when the rate jumped above that threshold and remained there until jumping again on Tuesday.

Connecticut’s rate of positive tests is still low in comparison to some hot spot states. For instance, Idaho and South Dakota are currently reporting rates above 20%, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But when compared to its own history, Connecticut’s rate is still trending higher than it did over the summer.

Following after the increasing positivity rate, Connecticut’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have also been climbing in recent

weeks. On Wednesday, the state reported an increase of 16 hospitalizations, for a total of 188 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. The state hasn’t seen hospitalizations reach that level since June 16.

The number of people dying with COVID-19 has also edged up, according to the state’s numbers. In the month of August, the state reported a total 33 coronavirus-related deaths. That number increased to 43 in the month of September. Andonly halfway through October, the state has already reported 29 coronavirus-related deaths this month.

Similarly, in August the state had 10 different days with zero coronavirus-related deaths. Connecticut had only three such days in September, and now has not recorded a zerodeath day since Sept. 15.

On Wednesday, the state reported four new coronavirus- related deaths.

Across the state, a total of 61,861 people have tested positive for COVID-19, and a total of 4,537 people have died with the virus.

Nationwide, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, about 7.9 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and a total of 216,406 people have died with the virus.