Hospitalizations Rise As CT COVID 7-Day Positivity Rate Climbs Over 5%

CONNECTICUT — The seven-day rolling average for the state's COVID-19 positivity rate has climbed above 5 percent, a new milestone in the surge of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.2 through Connecticut.

The test positivity rate reported by the state Friday was 5.27 percent over the last seven days, up from 4.88 percent average reported 24 hours earlier.

As of April 4, only the more accurate nucleic Acid amplification tests (NAAT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are reported to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and test positivity is calculated as a seven-day rolling average.

The BA.2 omicron variant spreads more easily than earlier variants of the virus that cause COVID-19, including the delta variant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects that anyone with omicron infection, regardless of vaccination status or whether or not they have symptoms, can spread the virus to others. Significantly, the BA.2 subvariant is proving far less lethal than either delta or omicron.

Hospitalizations also continue to creep northward in Connecticut. There are 117 residents hospitalized with COVID-19, up 36 beds in the past week.

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The surge in coronavirus cases in the state is evident in the new wave of heightened virulence of BA.2 can be seen dramatically in the new scarlet spread across the state coronavirus alert map released on Thursday.

Twenty-five municipalities now reside in the highest-alert "red" zone, up five towns from last week's report from the Department of Public Health. Forty-six towns are in the second-highest infection cohort.

The virus claimed 19 lives in Connecticut over the week — 13 fewer than logged the week before — according to DPH. The Connecticut COVID-19 death toll was 10,443 as of Thursday.