Danbury Coronavirus Updates: 251 Active Cases

DANBURY, CT —There are 251 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the City, Mayor Mark Boughton confirmed Tuesday. Of those, 223 were reported by the state Department of Public Health, and 28 were tabulated at private labs.

"That number (of Danbury residents suffering from COVID-19) is much higher though," Boughton said during a live-streamed news conference, "because we don't get the test results from New York State."

Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday afternoon that another 557 residents have tested positive for the virus statewide, bringing the total to 3,128. Sixty-nine people have died, 16 more in the past 24 hours, and 608 have been hospitalized. The state tally includes an additional 17 fatalities previously unreported, which brings the total number of deaths in Connecticut to 69. He said state officials just learned of the 17 new deaths and announced them Tuesday. On Monday, 36 deaths were reported across the state.

Don't miss updates in Connecticut concerning the Coronavirus as they are announced. Sign up for Patch alerts and newsletters.

Boughton warned that the City might take the "extreme" measure of closing public parks if residents continued to disobey social distancing guidelines.

"Danbury is consistently number one or number two each day in confirmed COVID cases," the mayor said, "so it's so important that we try to stop the spread here locally."

Boughton encouraged residents to buy takeout from local restaurants, which he said were "teetering on the brink of bankruptcy."

Residents can expect to see National Guard troops and trucks in town beginning Wednesday, the mayor said, as the troops assisted with the deployment of the new 250-bed hospital at Western Connecticut State University's O'Neill Center.

Boughton was able to highlight one bright spot amidst all the pandemic gloom: Crime is down, and call volume is down 10 percent.