Hospitalizations Rise As CT COVID 7-Day Positivity Rate Climbs Over 8%

CONNECTICUT — The number of residents in Connecticut hospitals confirmed with COVID-19 continues to inch higher, as health experts debate their next steps in the pandemic.

The 7-day rolling average released by the state Department of Public Health on Friday was 8.09 percent, up nearly a half percentage point from the average reported on Thursday.

There are 188 residents hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase of 27 beds over the past week. Of those patients currently hospitalized, 128, or just over 68 percent, are fully vaccinated.

The virus claimed 17 lives in Connecticut over the week — three more than logged the week before — according to state health officials. The state COVID-19 death toll was 10,826 as of Thursday.

Over two years into the pandemic and coronavirus cases back on the rise again: What's the answer? According to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the public health agency's panel of independent vaccine experts, it's likely not more booster shots.

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Committee member Dr. Sarah Long, a professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine, said that health officials need to abandon the idea that vaccines can prevent COVID infections, according to pharma industry trade Pink Sheet

"With the vaccines currently available, we should not chase the rainbows of hoping that those vaccines could prevent infection, transmission and even mild disease because we’ve learned that is just not possible," Long said.