Health & Fitness
Coronavirus CT: Over 1,700 New Cases Reported
The new case count reported Wednesday was one of the highest in a single day since the pandemic began.
CONNECTICUT — The state Department of Public Health on Wednesday revealed a whopping 1,754 new cases of the coronavirus in the most recent 24-hour reporting period. The good news is that the positive test rate dropped nearly 2 percentage points, to a still-uncomfortable 4.76 percent.
The more than 1,700 cases in a single reporting day is the highest since April, not counting weekend reports when the state bundles multiple reporting days together.
There were 36 new hospitalizations, bringing the current total to 584.
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There have been 84,741 confirmed cases of the virus in the state since the pandemic began. The death toll is 4,716, counting an additional nine deaths added Tuesday.
Statewide, the second wave of the virus has been markedly less lethal than its spring incarnation. The change can be traced to increased testing, better prepared hospitals, and the fact that a greater percentage of the newly infected are young and less likely to become severely ill than patients at the start of the outbreak, according to the Financial Times.
Find out what's happening in Across Connecticutfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In short, as the interactive chart below illustrates, while people age 20-69 are catching the disease in droves, it has been those 70 and older who are much more likely to succumb to it.
Another 36,814 state residents have been tested for the virus, officials announced Wednesday. The increased sampling rate has also served to elevate the number of confirmed, but asymptomatic, cases that weren't counted in the spring when testing resources were scarce. A total of 2,633,797 tests have been administered to Nutmeggers since the start of the pandemic.
The towns with the most new cases reported Tuesday were:
1. Bridgeport: 147
2. Hartford: 108
3. Norwalk: 76
4. Danbury: 72
5. Stamford: 70
6. Waterbury: 70
7. Hamden: 68
8. New Britain: 64
9. New Haven: 61
10. Stratford: 42
See Also: 5 UConn Residence Halls Placed Under Coronavirus Quarantine
The towns with the most coronavirus cases reported over the past week were:
1. Bridgeport: 644
2. Hartford: 396
3. Stamford: 371
4. Waterbury: 368
5. Danbury: 300
6. Norwalk: 267
7. Fairfield: 258
8. Meriden: 238
9. New Britain: 213
10. Hamden: 212
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