CT COVID-19 Cases, Positive Test Rate Continue To Increase

CONNECTICUT — The rate of reported coronavirus cases and the positive test rate continues to inch upward in Connecticut.

Reported cases increased 14 percent compared with the previous seven-day reporting window.

The state reported 5,156 cases and an 8.51 percent positive test rate over the most recent seven days. Comparatively, the state reported 4,521 cases and a positive test rate of 7.35 percent last Tuesday for the seven-day figures.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased in April, but not as dramatically as previous months. Connecticut started the month with 81 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. There were 191 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, which was an increase of 41 patients over seven days.

Newly-released seroprevelence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly 58 percent of U.S. residents were infected with COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic.

The U.S. is likely in a transition year for COVID-19, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said during an April 24 Face the Nation interview. The country isn’t in an endemic phase yet and there isn’t an exact point when that happens, he said.

“What's going to happen is this is going to settle into more of a seasonal pattern,” he said about national trends. “I do expect prevalence levels to start to decline.”

The question is what will emerge in the fall, such as a new strain of the omicron variant, Gottlieb said. Trends going into the fall will drive vaccine decisions.