The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Users: Delays found in COVID-19 app
Glitch slows contact-tracing process
More than a half-million Connecticut residents have signed up to receive alerts when they have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
But if you’ve tested positive, logging your case could get complicated — and does not happen immediately.
The COVID Alert CT app, which launched last week, notifies users if their phone senses they spent more than 15 minutes within 6 feet of someone who has since tested positive for the virus. The infected person is kept anonymous in the process, according to state officials.
To report a positive case, users are prompted to enter a one-time code needed to verify the diagnosis.
“They get that code from a contact tracer when the contact tracer calls them,” said Lora Rae Anderson, a spokeswoman for the office of the state’s chief operating officer, Josh Geballe.
“That's because we need a confirmed result from the lab before someone reports a positive case in order to ensure the integrity of the process,” she said.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office on Tuesday reported 1,702 new COVID-19 cases. The results came from 32,964 new tests for a daily positivity rate of 5.16 percent. The seven-day positivity rate dropped slightly to 5.3 percent.
The total number of tests for the virus conducted in the state has now surpassed 2.8 million.
Anderson said contact tracers usually call within a day of someone receiving their positive result from a testing lab.
After receiving their case code from the contact tracer, app users can record their positive test result.
If users enter the wrong code,
they are prompted to request a new one from local health authorities. In some cases, infected people have reported not receiving a code from a contact tracer, which could further delay recording the case in the app.
Anderson did not respond to questions about how long it takes for the people who have been identified as close contacts to the infected person to be notified of the positive result.
New Jersey’s and New York’s apps follow a similar process of requiring a code from a public health contact tracer or representative for users to share their diagnosis.
The app is the latest tool state leaders have launched to help control the spread of the virus.
Another measure has been dining curfews, which one Connecticut restaurant was found to have violated last week, the state Department of Consumer Protection announced Tuesday.
The agency said it has suspended the liquor license of Legends Sports Bar in Bristol, after a spot inspection there last Friday found patrons still being served past 10 p.m.
The state has issued a curfew for restaurants to cease dine-in service at that time, though takeout service can continue later.
Agents found around 45 patrons inside with “drinks actively being served from the bar,” drinks served without meals “while others played pool,” the agency said.
“The sector rules are in place for one reason — to keep customers and employees safe,” Max Reiss, a spokesman for Lamont, said in a statement after the action was announced.
Reiss announced Friday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting Lamont and other senior members of the governor’s staff to selfisolate.
Lamont and Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, who were in close contact with Reiss on Friday, said they have each tested negative for the virus.
Commissioner Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, of the state’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, announced Tuesday evening that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
Delphin-Rittmon, who is in isolation, said she is experiencing “mild” symptoms and said she has had “limited face-to-face contact” with colleagues since she has been working remotely.
The department also released data showing 87 patients and 160 agency members have tested positive for the disease since the beginning of March.
Data from the governor’s office showed hospitalizations continued to rise with 20 more patients on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 777.
A dozen more deaths attributed to the illness were also reported from the previous day, bringing Connecticut’s death toll to 4,771.
Vermont was added Tuesday to Connecticut’s travel advisory list, which now includes 47 states and territories, including Massachusetts. Travelers from those locations need to quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in Connecticut. Travelers are exempt if they show they tested negative either 72 hours before arrival or anytime after they come to the state.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference announced Tuesday it will postpone all winter sports activity until Jan. 21.
“Today’s action supports our member schools while they continue manage rising COVID numbers within their communities and experience widespread movements to distance learning,” the organization said in an email sent to athletic directors and later posted on its website.