Delta more than 3 of every 4 cases

Most of hospitalized in Connecticut did not get vaccine

On the same day Connecticut reported that nearly 80 percent of all new COVID-19 cases here stem from the powerfully contagious delta variant, the state also recorded its highest weekly positivity rate in more than two months.

A report from the governor’s office Thursday shows the delta variant comprising 77.3 percent of all new coronavirus infections in Connecticut. That’s up from 13.6 percent at the start of the month.

That is consistent with the national trend. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday that the delta variant accounts for 83 percent of all the COVID-19 cases in the United

States that had been genetically sequenced.

Data released by the state Thursday shows a weekly positive test rate of 1.82 percent. The last time the weekly rate was that high was May 11. The daily positivity rate Thursday was 2.22 percent and the state reported an additional four deaths this week.

Hospitalizations increased by

eight, also tied with a multimonth high, to 66.

A Yale researcher who is involved in identifying variants said after the data release that more state restrictions may be needed to stem the latest rise. The delta variant is believed to be more than 60 percent more transmissible than the alpha variant, which was discovered in the U.K. and was until this month the dominant strain in Connecticut.

Nate Grubaugh, a researcher at the Yale School of Public Health, which along with and Jackson Laboratory has been sequencing positive COVID-19 samples to determine which coronavirus variants are present in the state, said the upward trajectory in cases is “not a blip.”

“We’re going to see cases double or so for a while until enough people get exposed and it comes down again or people change their behaviors,” Grubaugh said.

The delta figure for last week was 64 percent, according to the Yale database, which listed nine variants that have been identified in the state.

Grubaugh said the current vaccination rate and collective behaviors in Connecticut and in the U.S. is not enough to stop delta, and with vaccination efforts stalling, officials should consider reinstituting some of the safety protocols that were lifted due to declining cases.

At least one institution in Connecticut is reinstating precautions. The Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton put in place stricter COVID-19 protocols, including limiting gathering sizes, closing some recreational spaces and making others by appointment only, due to the rise in infections, the Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday, Dr. Deidre Gifford, the state's acting Department of Public Health commissioner, and Gov. Ned Lamont stopped short of calling the increase in the delta variant alarming.

Lamont reiterated his position on public health orders: No new mask or distancing requirements in Connecticut, but he called for common-sense use of masks in places where people may be unvaccinated.

As of Thursday, 69 percent of all Connecticut residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 63 percent are fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state reported 295 new cases Thursday, which is higher than the lows of a couple weeks ago, but still far below typical highs in winter months when thousands of new cases were recorded daily.

Lamont and Gifford said they are watching hospitalization rates closely. On July 15, the state reported a one-day increase of eight hospitalizations but before that it had been nearly three months since a daily increase of eight or more. At that point, the number of people hospitalized was more than 400.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Connecticut has been declining steadily for months from a cold weather peak of 1,269 on Dec. 15, 2020, to 25 on July 9, but has crept up since then.

Most of those hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Gifford said she was not aware of a count showing how many hospitalized Connecticut patients had the delta variant.

“It stands to reason that if you’re unvaccinated, you have COVID, you’re in the hospital, it’s likely the delta variant,” Gifford said.

H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Peter Avila, a COVID testing associate, collects a self-administered COVID-19 test from a visitor at a testing site in Danbury in June.

Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media Alexander Pereira, 15, of Milford, receives a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Kaitlin Erickson at a Yale New Haven vaccination clinic in Milford on May 17.