CT Coronavirus Vaccine Demand Greatly Exceeds Supply: Lamont

CONNECTICUT — Demand for the coronavirus vaccine in Connecticut greatly exceeds supply, Gov. Ned Lamont announced at a news conference Tuesday.

Connecticut is among the top five states in the country in vaccine distribution, having administered 221,000 doses to date, Lamont said. An additional 50,000 doses of the vaccine were expected to arrive in the state by Wednesday.

All first responders and nursing home residents in the state have gotten their first dose, and another 24,000 have received their second dose, according to the governor.

Recognizing the squeeze on the vaccine pipeline, Lamont said the state Department of Public Health will prioritize vaccine distribution to the most vulnerable population groups.

The vaccine is currently being distributed to people 75 and older and Lamont said people 65 and older will be vaccinated "in a couple of weeks," followed by front-line workers and people with high-risk conditions in February and early March.

Vaccinating Black people and Hispanic people — who were "disproportionately" hit by the coronavirus — will be a priority, Lamont said. He provided no details on how that prioritization might be handled.

The seven-day positive coronavirus test rate in the state was 5.3 percent on Tuesday. That's the lowest it has been since early December. The daily positive test rate was 5.65 percent, and there have been 27 more hospitalizations over the three-day weekend, officials said.

The good news was not confined to just Connecticut.

"Rhode Island, Massachusetts and even New York are stabilizing or even bending the curve a little bit," Lamont said.

The sunnier local coronavirus news came on a day when the nation passed a dark milestone of 400,000 COVID-19 deaths nationwide.

Here are the Connecticut communities with the most new coronavirus cases since Monday:

1. Norwalk: 104

2. Hartford: 88

3. Stamford: 86

4. New Britain: 83

5. Danbury: 82

6. Waterbury: 82

7. Wethersfield: 72

8. East Hartford: 71

9. Bridgeport: 69

10. Meriden: 63

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Here are the communities with the most new coronavirus cases in the past week:

1. Hartford: 523

2. New Haven: 477

3. Bridgeport: 473

4. Waterbury: 452

5. Stamford: 391

6. New Britain: 374

7. Danbury: 366

8. Norwalk: 315

9. Meriden: 282

10. East Hartford: 258