Town sees small increase in COVID cases

Vaccine program planned, town manager says

EAST HAMPTON – The town has seen a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases and an additional death from the virus, according to Town Manager David E. Cox.

Specifically, the state Department of Public Health has seen an increase of “60 new confirmed cases of the virus” in the past two weeks, Cox said.

That uptick means the town’s positivity rate is now 33.3 per 100,000 people, Cox reported, an increase “that equates to over four new cases each day.” The state reporting is for the period from Feb. 7 to Feb. 20.

For the previous reporting period, the town saw a two-week average daily positivity rate of 31.7 per 100,000 population.

“The town has seen increases in its case rates over the last few weeks,” Cox said in his latest report on the impact of the virus on the town,

The uptick also brings the town’s total over the past 11 months to 669 cases, Cox said.

Additionally, Cox said there was another death of a town resident reported by DPH.

It is the second such local death in the new year, and it brings the town’s total of COVID deaths to 19, Cox said. Statewide there have been a total of 289,946 COVID cases to date Feb. 25 and 7,622 virus-related deaths, state data shows. In Middlesex County as a whole, there have been 10,386 cases and 341 deaths, state data shows.

As of Friday, there were 451 people statewide hospitalized with COVID, state data shows.

As he does in each of his updates of the virus’s impact, Cox urged residents to wear masks, especially around people they do not live with, limit their social interactions with those who live outside their own households and to stay home from work or school if they become ill.

He encouraged residents to wear masks “made of multiple layers (two is OK, three is better) of tightly woven fabric.”

Cox also said that, in conjunction with the Chatham Health District the town is “working to implement a vaccination program.”

Meanwhile, the number of residents who have already received at least their dose of vaccine has grown to over 2,100 people, which is 16.94 percent of the town’s population, Cox said

In light of the new protocol established by Gov. Ned Lamont, the town will continue to vaccinate those over 65 while at the same time beginning to vaccinate educators. Starting Monday, Connecticut residents 55 and up will be able to register and get the COVID-19 vaccine along with those who work in education or child care.