New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
CT’s COVID-19 positivity rate increases
Here are the most important things to know about COVID in Connecticut.
Connecticut’s positivity rate increases to 1.6
The state announced 823 new cases on Monday, four more deaths and 19 more hospitalizations. The positivity rate (the percentage of total tests that are positive) increased to 1.6 percent from the previous 1.3 percent on Friday.
CT transmission rate at its highest since March
Connecticut’s transmission rate is at its highest since March. The transmission rate is 1.11, according to rt.live and Yale’s model pins the rate at 1.15. This number means that an infected person will spread the disease to at least one other person on average, causing COVID-19 to spread.
MIT develops a cheap, new COVID-19 test
MIT has developed a COVID-19 test that is so cheap it could be administered at home every single day. The test returns results in 30 minutes to an hour, and is more than 90 percent accurate. “We need rapid testing to become part of the fabric of this situation so that people can test themselves every day, which will slow down an outbreak,” Omar Abudayyeh, an MIT McGovern Fellow working on the diagnostic, said in a release. The test is still in the research phase.
Coronavirus cases increase as cold front arrives
As the cold weather has arrived, there has been a record number of coronavirus cases in nine states, as Reuters reports. The states seeing the largest increases are those where the cold has taken hold, particularly in the northern Midwest. In
Wisconsin, for example, an average of 22 percent of all COVID-19 tests are coming back positive.
CDC updates guidance to confirm COVID-19 can be spread through aerosols
Despite a mountain of other research, the CDC has gone back and forth about whether the virus can spread through aerosols, but a newly updated guidance affirms it can be spread through the air. Small viral particles can linger in the air for minutes or hours after a person has left a space, potentially infecting others. This kind of spread is called airborne transmission.