DPH: Connecticut COVID red-zone towns surge to 39

The coronavirus has flared up over the last two weeks and now 39 Connecticut communities have returned to red-level infection rates up from seven last week, the state Department of Public Health reported Thursday.

The weekly positivity rate remains over 3 percent. Eleven deaths were reported Thursday in the weekly fatality summary, up from three the previous week, bringing the state up to 8,307 dead in the pandemic.

An additional net 17 hospitalizations overnight brought the number of patients to 247, which is still far below the peaks of last December and April 2020.

Towns in the red are those with an average of at least 15 new daily infections for every 100,000 people in the two weeks ending Aug. 7. The number rose sharply in part because the percent of positive tests is inching up, and in part because the number of tests increased by nearly 90 percent in the last two weeks, compared with the two weeks prior.

In all, antigen testing showed 3,751 positve tests in the week ending Aug. 7. In reverse order for the prior weeks going back to the week ending July 10, total new cases were 2,835, 1,787, 967 and 518.

What isn’t knowable is how many people actually have cases of COVID-19, and whether the number who actually had it is proportional to the rise. It’s possible that a higher percentage of people with the illness are seeking out tests, which would mean the rise is not as sharp as it appears; or the opposite could be true if many more people with the illness but no symptoms are not being tested.

Among communities listed in the red are Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Cheshire, East Haven, Easton, Hartford, Meriden, Middletown, New Britain, New Haven, New London, North Branford, North Haven, Norwich, Plymouth, Stamford, Thomaston and Waterbury. Easton, Hartford and Thomaston were among the seven communities in the red last week.

The DPH guidance for red-alert communities is to limit trips out of the home, cancel indoor events, avoid indoor gatherings with non-family members, and even postpone outdoor gatherings where social distancing cannot be maintained. All towns and cities in Connecticut have an option of ordering masks at restaurants, offices and other locations within their borders.