COVID-19 cases up among young people in Norwalk
NORWALK — Though coronavirus vaccination rates have increased, so have infections, with Norwalk’s positivity rate reaching nearly 7 percent in recent days. And a large portion of this COVID-19 spike is coming from those 19 and under, according to the city health director.
“Within the past two-week time period, data’s showing 28 percent of our cases in Norwalk are between the ages of 0 and 19,”
Norwalk Health Department Director Deanna D’Amore said at a coronavirus town hall meeting Wednesday. “If you compare that to the entire pandemic, the cases are trending much younger right now.”
Throughout the pandemic, the number of COVID cases stemming from those 19 and younger has been about 18 percent, she added.
“As the vaccine has become more
available to adults, we are seeing that it’s working and seeing lower trends among the older population,” D’Amore said. “But we’re seeing an increase in transmission in those younger age groups right now.”
For the two-week period of March 28 through April 10, the coronavirus positivity rate in Norwalk was 6.9 percent, according Department of Public Health data. The latest positivity rate is up more than 2 percent from the month prior when the infection rate for Feb. 28 through March 13 was 4.8 percent, according to previous coronavirus updates from Mayor Harry Rilling.
The 6.9 percent positivity rate dovetailed with the city reaching 11,000 COVID-19 cases Wednesday.
The higher positivity rate is not exclusive to Norwalk; statewide, Connecticut reported a 4.4 percent positivity rate Wednesday and is approaching 8,000 COVID-related deaths, also up 2 percent from one month ago, according to DPH data.
“It’s not just Norwalk, cases are rising all over,” city spokesperson Josh Morgan said. “Specific in Norwalk we are seeing cases that are trending younger.
The increase in younger people contracting the virus is due, in part, to the younger age groups being the last eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Cases are also increasing for those under 20, many of whom are still not eligible for the vaccine, Morgan
said.
“There could also be some relaxing,” Morgan said. “It’s been a long 13 months. Weather is getting nicer and people want to return to normal. We really have to keep at the distancing and mask wearing, can’t let our guard down.”
Following Wednesday’s vaccination clinic at the movie theater in South Norwalk, the Norwalk Health Department has administered nearly 9,500 COVID-19 vaccines, D’Amore said.
The Community Health Center, Inc. in Norwalk has
also administered more than 10,000 vaccines to Norwalk residents, many at the mass vaccination clinic organized by CHC in the parking lot of the former Lord & Taylor in Stamford, CHC Regional Vice President Amy Taylor said at Wednesday’s town hall.
“Additionally, we’ve done mobile vaccine clinics at places that really benefited from them,” Taylor said.
In Norwalk, about 37 percent of residents have received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to DPH data from April 8. Statewide,
nearly 1.5 million Connecticut residents have received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 900,000 are fully inoculated, according to DPH data.