Daily positivity climbs to highest rate since early April

Connecticut reported one of its highest daily test positivity rates in months on Tuesday, climbing to a level the state hasn’t seen since early April.

At the same time, the state posted a significant decline in hospitalizations — signaling the current uncertainty of the state’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Tuesday, five out of Connecticut’s eight counties qualified as areas with “high” rates of COVID-19 transmission, while the other three (Tolland, Windham and Middlesex Counties) were classified as areas of “substantial” community transmission. That marked a slight easing of transmission rates since Monday, when seven of the counties counted as areas of “high” transmission.

Cases and positivity rate: Connecticut reported 1,003 COVID-19 cases out of 21,582 tests administered, for a daily test positivity rate of 4.65%. That’s the highest single-day COVID-19 test positivity rate the state has seen since early April.

Tuesday’s rate, though a significant jump from Monday’s test positivity rate of 3.1%, only slightly increases the state’s weekly test positivity rate from 3.42% to 3.53%.

Hospitalizations: Connecticut reported 363 hospitalizations Tuesday, a decrease of 17 individuals since Monday. The state has not seen such a significant singleday drop in hospitalizations since June 14, when the state reported a decline of 21 individuals.

Hospitalizations have been relatively flat over the past week, and the decline of 17 people is a promising sign in the state’s fight against the highly contagious delta variant.

Deaths: Connecticut reports COVID-19 deaths only on Thursdays. As of last week, the state had recorded 8,355 coronavirus-linked deaths during the pandemic.

The United States has recorded 639,390 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.

Vaccinations: As of Tuesday, 73.6% of Connecticut’s population and 84.5% of residents at least 12

years old had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, 66% of the state’s population and 75.7% of those at least 12 years old were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.