Virus Vaccination continues

COVID patients,” Churchwell said. “We just have a process now that we can take care of them better, not just in the hospital environment but also at home.”

Even as hospitalizations slow, Connecticut continues to report high numbers of coronavirus-linked deaths, including 22 more Tuesday. The state has now recorded 224 COVID-19 deaths over the past week, most in a seven-day period since late May, and 5,466 total.

The United States has now seen 302,046 COVID19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University, after passing the 300,000 threshold Monday.

Yale New Haven Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and other hospitals statewide began vaccinating health care workers Tuesday, a day after doses of the first authorized vaccine arrived in the state. Overall, Connecticut hospitals are expected to receive 15,600 doses this week, with nursing homes receiving another 15,600.

“We have an opportunity now to take advantage of a vaccine that’s 95% effective,”

Yale New Haven Health CEO Marna Borgstrom said before a ceremony in which five health care workers received the vaccine. “It’s a great opportunity, and it hopefully starts a new chapter in our life with COVID.”

Lamont said the Thursday’s stormy forecast is not expected to delay the delivery of vaccine doses, which are expected to arrive by the end of Wednesday at the latest.

“I think we can manage the delivery,” he said. “Whether everybody’s going to get vaccinated on Friday or Thursday, we’ll see.”

The governor has said he hopes to have all health care workers in the state vaccinated by the end of January. The vaccine is expected to become available to the general public sometime next spring, while the state plans to vaccinate every resident whowishes to be vaccinated by early fall 2021.