Ranking who gets a vaccine first

Here’s what you need to know about COVID-19 in Connecticut Tuesday:

Nearly 500 new cases in 3 days

On Monday, the state of Connecticut announced 497 new cases since Friday, three more deaths and nine fewer hospitalizations since Sunday. The positivity rate (the percentage of total tests that are positive) has stabilized at a 1.2 percent rate since Sept. 18.

Who should get the vaccine first?

The World Health Organization (WHO), among other organizations, is attempting to rank who should be given a vaccine first. According to the WHO's guidance, health care workers are prioritized in the top tier, followed by medically vulnerable groups. This group includes “older people living in crowded settings, and individuals with multiple existing conditions, such as serious heart disease or diabetes, that put them at risk for more-serious COVID-19 infection,” according to the WHO.

Testing key to preventing COVID-19 in long-term care facilities, says CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control released a report on strategies to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities. It’s not just for residents, who are usually older, but staff as well. Their basic conclusion is lots and lots of preemptive testing; that’s kind of exactly the opposite of the guidance the CDC released this summer (and then reversed last week).

CDC reverses guidance on how coronavirus is transmitted

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has retracted its earlier guidance saying that coronavirus can be spread through aerosols.

A draft of potential changes was accidentally posted to the website. CDC guidelines are now affirming that the virus cannot be spread through tiny particles lingering in the air.

Coronavirus sets the world back 25 years in 25 weeks

The annual Goalkeepers Report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation finds that coronavirus has set the world back 25 years in just 25 weeks. Markers of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals show extreme poverty has increased by 7 percent and routine vaccine coverage — a measure of how health systems are functioning — has dropped to levels last seen in the 1990s, according to the report.