CT Coronavirus Vaccine Expansion Announcement In Near Future

CONNECTICUT — Connecticut along with the rest of the country will be getting an increase in coronavirus vaccine doses for the next week from the federal government. Gov. Ned Lamont also announced that guidance on eligibility for the next vaccine phase will be released in about 10 days.

Connecticut will get around 72,000 first doses next week, which is a 22 percent increase, state Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said during a news conference.

The state will also take the federal government up on an offer to directly assist with vaccination efforts, Geballe said. The state put in an application for a federally-run mass vaccination site in the Bridgeport area as well as assistance on smaller mobile teams.

The next vaccine phase includes frontline essential workers and people with pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk of coronavirus complications.

More than 691,000 coronavirus doses have been administered in Connecticut as of Tuesday with 473,000 being first doses. Around 66 percent of people over the age of 75 have been vaccinated and 23 percent of people between the ages of 65 and 74 have gotten at least their first shot.

CT increasing search for coronavirus variants

Connecticut health officials are working to bolster the state’s capacity to genetically sequence coronavirus test samples for variants like the ones originally spotted in the U.K. and South Africa.

“We are ramping up our capacity to do genomic sequencing we are going to be putting that capacity in the state laboratory, which we haven’t had up until now,” said Acting Department of Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford.

Connecticut currently sequences fewer than 100 test samples weekly for variants, Gifford said.

The state is also working with three private in-state laboratories and sends a couple of dozen samples bi-weekly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for national surveillance.

More than 40 Connecticut coronavirus cases were identified as the U.K. variant and one was found to be the South African variant.

The South African variant case was announced Monday. The individual didn’t have any travel history.

“The assumption is that they encountered this variant here in Connecticut and we have done contact tracing, that work is ongoing and we do anticipate that there will be other cases that are identified,” Gifford said.

State keeps up positive coronavirus trends

Connecticut reported 580 coronavirus cases Tuesday and a daily positive test rate of 2.83 percent. Net coronavirus hospitalizations dropped by 12 patients down to 606 hospitalized.

The state also reported two coronavirus-related deaths, which was the lowest single-day figure in months. The low death figure was likely due to President’s Day and a delay in reporting, Lamont said.