COVID Hospitalizations Up, CT Health Officials Urge All To Get Tested

CONNECTICUT — The state Department of Public Health is reporting 714 residents are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a 140 patient increase from last Thursday.

As Connecticut prepares to enter a new year with an old nemesis, the DPH is urging residents to get tested for COVID-19 and jump on their meds quickly.

A new web-based locator can assist residents to find the "Test to Treat" locations nearest them. For those who test positive for COVID-19, oral therapeutics such as Paxlovid may be recommended by a health care provider who can appropriately prescribe these oral antiviral pills.

"In order for COVID-19 treatments to work, they must be started early, within five days of when your symptoms start," DPH Commissioner Manisha Juthani said.

Those who may have difficulty accessing the internet or need additional support locating a testing site can call 1-800-232-0233 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.

DPH reported nearly 3,827 weekly cases and a 15.56 percent positive test rate Thursday. There were 473 fewer cases than the last seven-day reporting period. Cases are likely severely undercounted due to at-home test results going unreported.

As of Dec. 7, 2022, a total of 308,226 cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut have been identified, according to state health officials. Those cases account for 10.18 percent of the nearly 2.8 million people in the state who are fully vaccinated.

Over 95 percent of residents 55 years of age and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The breakdown of the remaining age groups looks like this:

• 92 percent of those between 45-54
• 90 percent of those between 35-44
• 88 percent of those between 25-34
• 85 percent of those between 15-24
• 73 percent of those between 10-14
• 51 percent of those between 5-9
• 14 percent of those between 0-4

Reports of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, infections appear to have peaked in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The five-week average number of detected cases has dropped like a stone since about mid-November.

Below are the town-by-town COVID-19 case counts for the past week.