New cases see biggest rise since May 1

Connecticut crosses threshold to qualify for its own travel advisory

After reporting its largest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day since early May, Connecticut appears to have crossed the threshold at which it will qualify for its own travel advisory next week.

Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday reported 802 positive results out of 33,048 coronavirus tests, for a rate of 2.4% The state has now recorded a positivity rate of 1.7% over the past week, higher than any previous seven-day stretch since mid-June.

The last time Connecticut reported so many cases in a single day (not including instances when the state reported multiple days’ data at once) was May 1. The large number of cases Friday reflects both increased COVID-19 spread as well as a particularly high number of test results reported

Connecticut has averaged 366 new cases a day over the past week or about 10.3 per 100,000 residents, just above the threshold at which states are added to the travel advisory. The advisory, which currently includes 38 states and territories, is updated each Tuesday in conjunction with New York and New Jersey. It requires travelers arriving from those states to either produce a negative coronavirus test result or quarantine for 14 days.

Lamont said Thursday he’s considering a dramatic overhaul to the advisory, saying “it’d be a little ironic if we were on our own quarantine list.”

“Perhaps at some point we just say, you get tested before you fly in to Connecticut. You quarantine when you come here,” Lamont said. “Maybe you start treating all these states as one. It’s getting a little complicated who’s in and who’s out week in and week out.”

State officials have noted that Connecticut conducts more COVID-19 tests per capita than most other states, which helps inflate its numberof recorded cases relative to its peers. Connecticut’s positivity rate, though rising, remains lower than that of most other states.

Connecticut currently has 184 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, down seven from Thursday but still up significantly from the summer.

Additionally, the state reported two more coronavirus-linked deaths Friday, bringing its total during the pandemic to 4,542. The United States has now seen 218,266 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.