Difficult Personal Changes Can Reduce CT Coronavirus: Task Force

CONNECTICUT — The White House Coronavirus Task Force and Gov. Ned Lamont have taken a similar approach lately to encourage personal behavior changes as one of the best ways to lower coronavirus infections.

“Difficult but temporary changes in personal behavior are key to limiting disease and death until we bring the pandemic to an end with Immunization; this messaging must be delivered frequently and by all effective modalities,” the task force wrote in its Dec. 6 weekly report to Connecticut. “The Governor’s continued, personal communication on these measures is commended.”

The report along with other state reports was obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.

Connecticut ranked 29th in the country for new cases per capita between Nov. 28 and Dec. 4 with 424 weekly cases per 100,000 residents. Rhode Island was a New England outlier and ranked 2nd in the nation for most cases per capita. Massachusetts ranks 30th. The task force reiterated its message that Connecticut's coronavirus situation was critical and that people need to do everything possible to help drive down infections.

The task force recommends that state and local policies encourage mask use, physical distancing, no indoor gatherings outside of immediate households. The task force also recommended robust testing, including testing of asymptomatic people.

Connecticut received its first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine yesterday with more shipments expected in the coming days and weeks. Lamont using a football analogy said that it was like seeing the end zone, but that everyone still has a lot of tackling and blocking to do in order to score a touchdown and beat the pandemic.

The task force report also noted that the country won’t see a significant improvement in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths until around 100 million people are vaccinated, which is the number of people with comorbidities that place them at increased risk for serious complications.