CT's 2nd Coronavirus Wave Begins To Mirror Spring Trends: Data

CONNECTICUT — As the state wades waist-deep through the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, health care officials have begun to draw comparisons to the first wave.

Since the pandemic began, 121,426 Connecticut residents have contracted the coronavirus as of Wednesday, according to the state Department of Public Health. A total of 2,672 new cases were reported Tuesday.

After the state hit the 100,000-case milestone Nov. 20, the climb has only gotten steeper:

Of course, coronavirus testing is readily available now, and with increased testing comes more confirmed cases. There were likely thousands of residents infected with the virus in the spring months who were asymptomatic the whole time.

The coronavirus infection rate statewide jumped to 6.52 percent Wednesday, up from 5.88 percent Tuesday and 4.4 percent on Monday.

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Gov. Ned Lamont said his office is closely monitoring the number of new hospitalizations. Health care facilities have less leeway in the winter, as many of those elective procedures put off in the spring to accommodate the pandemic's first wave have become critical. Another 50 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of coronavirus beds filled statewide to 1,202.

Here's how that looks compared to the spring:

On Wednesday, Lamont said he had hopes that a "virtuous cycle" of events, triggered by vaccine distribution, would shortly begin to free up health care resources.

After a rapid climb in the spring, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the state leveled off somewhat, but began to trend upward again during the latter half of November.

Another 50 coronavirus deaths were reported in the past day, bringing the state's death toll to 5,091 since the start of the pandemic.

This "blue zone" map shows the cumulative numbers of COVID-19 deaths and confirmed cases, tallied from the start of the pandemic:

The communities with the most new reported coronavirus cases over the past day were:

1. Bridgeport: 235

2. Danbury: 152

3. Stamford: 138

4. Waterbury: 138

5. Hartford: 116

6. New Britain: 106

7. Fairfield: 91

8. Milford: 75

9. New Haven: 74

10. Shelton: 67

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The communities with the most new coronavirus cases over the past week were:

1. Bridgeport: 640

2. Waterbury: 498

3. New Haven: 458

4. Hartford: 384

5. Stamford: 373

6. Danbury: 348

7. New Britain: 267

8. Milford: 254

9. Norwalk: 212

10. Fairfield: 210