Positive COVID tests down
Here are the most important things to know about COVID in Connecticut:
State reaches 1.5 million coronavirus tests
The state has crossed a bit of a threshold, Gov. Ned Lamont said during a Thursday press conference: 1.5 million coronavirus tests in the state thus far. The governor also said that the state would begin phase three reopening, including allowing restaurants to reach 75 percent capacity inside. He also said that there were 157 new coronavirus cases in the state since Wednesday, and a positivity rate of 1 percent.
Politics is getting in the way, National Academies say
Politicization of the pandemic is hurting the nation’s ability to fight it, according to a joint statement issued by the National Academies of Science and Medicine. “We find ongoing reports and incidents of the politicization of science, particularly the overriding of evidence and advice from public health officials and derision of government scientists, to be alarming,” the presidents of the organizations wrote. “Any efforts to discredit the best science and scientists threaten the health and welfare of us all.”
CDC says younger people are spreading COVID
The CDC is reporting that the age distribution of
COVID-19 patients is changing, trending a lot younger as of the end of the summer. “Younger adults likely contribute to community transmission of CO
VID-19,” the CDC wrote. It’s worth noting that the CDC report does not even include September, when many colleges started up and started testing students.
Google Maps will soon include COVID data
Google is rolling out a COVID layer on its popular Google Maps platform, intended, the company said in a blog post, “so you can make more informed decisions about where to go and what to do.” There is already, or will be soon, an option to see COVID data when you tap “layers” on the upper right corner of your screen. “You’ll then see a seven-day average of new COVID cases per 100,000 people for the area of the map you’re looking at,” Google said.
Trump says he could override the FDA
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was considering guidelines for proposed coronavirus vaccines that would push authorization beyond November. Now President Donald Trump has suggested he could override the FDA’s guidelines, as CNN reported. “We're looking at that and that has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it," Trump said at a news conference. "That sounds like a political move."