New CT Coronavirus Red Zone Map 'An Eye-Opener': Lamont

CONNECTICUT — The state's list of communities in the red zone for coronavirus infections grew Thursday to 145 municipalities, roughly 96 percent of the state. A week prior, the roster was at 100.

Gov. Ned Lamont called the latest red zone map an "eye-opener" during a news conference Thursday. He pushed back at speculation the state pins the needle so far in the red because it does a lot of testing.

"It's true, we do twice as much testing, but even if you divide (the number of cases) by half, we'd still be in the red," he said.

The municipalities deepest in the red zone in the latest dataset are Bridgeport, Meriden and Danbury, as they were last week, with 77.7, 74.9 and 73.4 cases per 100,000 population, respectively. In all those towns, the case rate is up more than 20 compared to a week ago.

The state Department of Public Health's red zone map is about five weeks old. It started with just four towns with an infection rate average above 15 cases or more per 100,000 population per day for 14 days.

Lamont said the map serves as a reminder that "doing whatever we do on a statewide basis is much more effective than doing it on a municipal basis."

Another 11 towns as of Thursday were in the state's orange zone with between 10 and 15 cases per 100,000 people. There were no new towns placed in the yellow zone.