CT Coronavirus Updates: 92 More Deaths, 545 New Cases Reported

HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut will soon get an 80 percent boost in its coronavirus testing capacity thanks to a partnership between Hartford Healthcare and Quest Diagnostics. The state averages about 2,600 tests per day and another 2,000 per day will be added through the partnership.

“Testing is so key to being able to reopen our economy again,” Gov. Ned Lamont said.

Connecticut announced another 545 positive coronavirus cases, 92 deaths and a net gain of 30 hospitalizations. That brings the totals up to 20,360 cases, 1,423 deaths and 1,949 current hospitalizations. More than 64,000 people have been tested in Connecticut.

“Sadly the death toll continues to grow and it’s not decelerating, but that is a lagging indicator,” Lamont said.

Fairfield County saw a net gain of two hospitalizations and New Haven County had a decline of one patient between Monday and Tuesday. Hartford County is still on the upswing with a gain of 18 hospitalizations. Fairfield County’s new hospital admissions are down half of what they were at the peak, Lamont said.

Testing details

Quest processes about half of coronavirus tests in the state, said CEO Steve Rusckowski.

One of the remaining testing bottlenecks is specimen acquisition kits, said Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, Hartford Healthcare's chief clinical operating officer. The partnership with Quest will help remedy that, he said.

The antibody test which will determine if people have immunity to the coronavirus will be easier to perform because it is a traditional blood test, Rusckowski said.

Antibodies show up in the blood weeks after a person is infected, Rusckowski said. Studies are being performed to determine how long the antibodies offer immunity to infected people.

Quest is looking at testing up to 200,000 people per day nationally with the antibody test by mid-May, which equates to 1.5 million tests per week, Rusckowski said. The blood test is much easier to conduct, especially for a large lab like Quest which has between 400 and 500 phlebotomists on staff in Connecticut alone.

Members of the regional state reopening team are doing modeling to determine what testing levels would be adequate to help determine when it’s safe to reopen the state, said state COO Josh Geballe. The determination is expected in a couple of weeks.

Nursing Homes Continue To Be Challenge

Nursing homes continue to be a major source of infections and deaths in Connecticut and nationally. Kimberly Hall in Windsor has had 35 residents die from coronavirus.

Lamont said the state will continue to inspect all nursing homes that have coronavirus cases to make sure their infection control protocol is being followed and that they have adequate levels of PPE and staffing.

“Nursing homes have been a tragedy across the country… nobody has solved this yet," Lamont said.

Mobile testing at nursing homes that will allow for quicker turnaround time will hopefully help reduce the spread of the virus, Lamont said. Turnaround time could be reduced to a day with mobile testing as opposed to three to five days when the sample is sent out to a lab.

Lamont promised more transparency on the nursing home situation, especially for the families of residents.

PPE Situation Improves

The state received 10,000 new N-95 masks and 2 million surgical mask recently. N-95 masks will mainly be distributed to nursing homes, Lamont said, while surgical masks will be available for essential businesses such as grocery stores.

There continues to be a shortage of surgical gowns and testing swabs, but the state has put in large orders for those items, Geballe said.

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