COVID numbers up in Conn., N.Y., N.J.

Here are the most important things to know about COVID in Connecticut.

Percent positive up in Conn.

About 1.8 percent of the total number of coronavirus tests in Connecticut were positive, an increase of about .1 percent from the previous day. A total of 221 new cases and 12 new COVID-19-related hospitalizations were announced. In addition, there were three more coronavirus-related deaths in the state.

COVID-19 may be ramping up in New York

City

Coronavirus cases are spiking in New York City. The daily rate of positive coronavirus tests jumped to 3.25 percent on Tuesday from 1.9 the day earlier, though it then dropped back down to below 1 percent. That spike may be centered in the city’s Orthodox Jewish community, but the city did just open up to 25 percent of indoor capacity at restaurants.

Percent positive up in New Jersey

New York’s positivity rate — the percentage of tests that are positive — may be jumping up and down, and Connecticut’s may be inching up, but pay attention to New Jersey. State officials there said Wednesday the positivity rate in that state climbed over 3 percent after being in the 2 percent range for weeks.

Transmission on surfaces unlikely in the real world

Coronavirus transmission on surfaces is unlikely, according to a letter published in the journal Lancet. In laboratory conditions it’s possible, but in the real world it’s far less likely, “provided that standard cleaning procedures and precautions are enforced.” Wash your hands.

Chinese citizens are

already getting a vaccine

There has been no coronavirus vaccine yet approved in China, but state media has said that hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens are receiving an unapproved shot under an emergency authorization, as The New Yorker reported. The goal, it reported, was to beat the United States to the punch. “Chinese officials are thinking that Donald Trump might approve a U.S. vaccine before the election,” Yiwu He, the chief innovation officer at the University of Hong Kong, told The New Yorker. “So their goal is to have a vaccine approved before that.”