New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
CT outpaces N.Y. in vaccine distribution
Connecticut has surpassed New York in the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed by population, according to data released by the two states.
Some 36,276 vaccines had been administered as of Monday in Connecticut, or a little more than 1,017 for every 100,000 residents, according to data released by Gov. Ned Lamont’s office.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced 140,000 doses had been administered in his state as of Monday, or about 720 doses per 100,000 people.
New York state’s population of nearly 20 million is more than five times that of Connecticut’s 3.5 million.
On Tuesday, Connecticut’s daily COVID positivity rate fell below 6 percent, but hospitalizations rose slightly while deaths continued to increase.
State health officials reported 767 new COVID-19 cases found in 13,603 new tests for a positivity rate of 5.64 percent.
There were seven more hospitalizations, bringing the statewide total to 1,226, after hospitalizations had been in decline midway through the month.
The number of people hospitalized for the disease still sits around where the state was in early to mid-May at the end of the spring surge.
There were also 20 more deaths associated with the disease Tuesday, bringing the statewide death toll to 5,924.
Connecticut is still in its first wave of vaccine distribution, with doses going to health care workers and staff and residents of nursing homes.
Lamont said Monday the state expects to have distributed the first dose to twothirds of its more than 200 nursing homes by the end of the week, and the remainder by early January.
Nursing home vaccinations are administered in clinics by staff from CVS and Walgreens under Operation Warp Speed, the federal vaccine development and distribution plan.
Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer, said the two companies have strict protocols to ensure the vaccine does not go to waste.
“They bring only what they think they need, they keep the doses refrigerated as necessary so if they need to bring them to a clinic the next day, they can do that,” he said. “The teams are doing a very good job from what we can tell,” of distributing the vaccines.
The most recent distribution numbers from Massachusetts also show it lagging with 35,618 total doses, or about 516 injections for every 100,000 residents. The latest Massachusetts data, however, is from last Thursday.
Rhode Island’s distribution numbers as of Tuesday — one day newer than those released in Connecticut — show a little more than 1,215 injections for every 100,000 residents.
In Colorado, officials confirmed on Tuesday the first U.S. case of a more infectious strain of the virus first reported in the United Kingdom, the Associated Press reported. The Colorado state laboratory notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after identifying the strain.
Asked about the strain on Monday, Lamont described restrictions on travel from the U.K. as appropriate, but stopped short of calling for more restrictions.
“We can’t put up a wall,” the governor said. “This strain is probably going to come to the U.S.— it’s probably here right now, it’s probably in Connecticut right now. What little I can tell you as a history major is I know the vaccine works on it and I know if you wear the mask, keep your distance ... we can contain this more infectious strain as well.”