State average tops 10K cases per day
Hospitalizations near all-time high; positivity rate 23.6%
Connecticut has averaged more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases a day over the past week, state numbers show, by far the most of any time during the pandemic.
Nearly a quarter of the COVID19 tests in the state came back positive over the weekend, continuing a coronavirus surge that shows no obvious signs of slowing.
COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide are fast approaching an all-time high, and some hospitals are already treating more coronavirus patients than they have at any previous point. Hartford Healthcare officials said Monday morning that their health system had 501 COVID-19 patients, compared to a high of 425 during Connecticut’s initial wave in spring 2020.
However, officials said Monday that fewer patients are requiring intensive care as compared to previous waves, likely due to protection from vaccines and the lesser severity of the omicron variant.
“At that time, when we had 425 [COVID-19] patients, about 128 patients were in the ICU,” Dr. Ajay Kumar, Hartford Healthcare’s chief clinical officer, said Monday. “Today we have almost 50% or so, a little less than that, in the ICU.”
As of Monday, Connecticut ranked 10th nationally in new COVID-19 tests per capita and eighth in COVID-19 hospitalizations per capita, according to data aggregated by the New York Times.
Cases, positivity rate
Connecticut on Monday reported 31,405 new COVID-19 cases out of 132,606 tests since Friday, for a daily positivity rate of 23.7%. The state’s seven-day positivity rate now stands at 23.6%, the highest of any time since widespread testing began more than 18 months ago.
Connecticut has now averaged 10,179 daily COVID-19 cases over the past week, up from 341 in early November and far more than at any other time of the pandemic. Unvaccinated residents have been about three times as likely to test positive in recent weeks as vaccinated residents, according to state numbers.
All eight Connecticut counties — along with nearly the entire rest of the country — are recording “high” levels of COVID19 transmission as defined by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With this level of transmission, the CDC advises people to wear a mask in public indoor settings.
Hospitalizations
As of Monday, Connecticut had 1,889 patients hospitalized with COVID19, up 79 from Wednesday. Hospital officials say some of those patients were admitted for non-coronavirus reasons before testing positive upon arrival but that a majority have significant COVID-19 symptoms.
Connecticut is now just 83 hospitalized patients shy of its record of 1,972, set on April 22, 2020.
According to the state, 68.1% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Hospital officials say the rate is significantly higher when considering only patients with severe symptoms.
Deaths
Connecticut reports COVID-19 deaths on Thursdays. Last week, the state recorded 121 deaths, bringing its total during the pandemic to 9,281.
As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have surged in Connecticut over recent weeks, deaths have risen but still remain far below the levels recorded last winter. Unvaccinated people in Connecticut have been about 17 times as likely to die from COVID-19 in recent weeks as those who are vaccinated, according to state numbers.
The United States has now recorded 837,773 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
Vaccinations
As of Monday, 90.2% of all Connecticut residents and 95% of those 12 and older had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 75.3% of all residents and 84% of those 12 and older were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Additionally, about 46.2% of fully vaccinated Connecticut residents 18 or older have received a booster dose.
The CDC warns that booster shots are sometimes misclassified as first doses, likely inflating the reported number of firstdose coverage and understating the true number of people who have received boosters.