Connecticut's Coronavirus Infection Rate Climbs To 3 Percent

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the coronavirus infection rate had jumped to 3 percent statewide, a high not seen since early June. There are 434 new cases reported.

"And alongside of that, we have 22 more people hospitalized," he said.

Quizzed on the infection rate spikes during a Tuesday news conference, the governor said the jump in the Nutmeg State numbers merely mirrored what was happening in the nation at large.

"The United States of America had the highest infection rate they've had in 3 months yesterday," Lamont said. "Connecticut is not an island unto itself."

The governor said he had conferred with his colleagues in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and their experiences with recent elevated infection rates have been similar.

"We're going to have to be disciplined a little bit longer" Lamont told reporters. "It's going to take us a little bit longer to get through this. A little bit longer until the therapies and vaccines are able to give us some security on the backside of COVID."

Since the pandemic began in March, Connecticut has now surpassed 64,000 positive cases and 4,554 deaths has been reported.

The governor made the announcement at a press conference announcing the Connecticut CARES Small Business Grant Program to help small businesses and nonprofits that continue to be negatively impacted by COVID-19.

The new program will provide businesses grants of $5,000 to businesses that meet certain hardship criteria. He promised the state would "do everything we can to help our small businesses power through this."