Coronavirus CT: Overall Infections Drop As Variants Rise

CONNECTICUT —The number of coronavirus variant cases in the state has climbed by 1,030 cases, according to the latest data released by the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

The overall COVID-19 positivity rate has been cratering, however. An additional 365 cases of the coronavirus were reported Thursday in the state, bringing that total to 344,977. With 32,583 tests reported, the daily positivity rate dropped to 1.12 percent.

Nationwide, the total number of daily new cases has now dropped more than 85 percent since January. The feared "fourth wave" of variants infections never materialized, even while the U.K. variant now accounts for nearly three-quarters of all COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S.

Variants of the coronavirus are watched carefully by health officials as they can be more contagious, more resistant to vaccines, or even more deadly. New coronavirus variants have been at the heart of COVID-19 surges throughout the world, most notably in the U.K.

Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at Yale University, was highly critical of Gov. Ned Lamont's decision in March to drop capacity-based coronavirus restrictions on restaurants and most other businesses. This week, he told the New York Times: "I think we got lucky, to be honest ... We’re being rescued by the vaccine." The state is preparing to drop just about all coronavirus restrictions, including indoor mask wearing for the unvaccinated, on Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified three types of coronavirus variants: variants of interest, variants of concern and variants of high consequence. The CDC has also recently introduced a new category, "substitutions of therapeutic concern," which can be found across all variants, and may be more resilient against certain man-made antibodies.

Among the variants of interest currently found in Connecticut, the Brazilian P.2 has held steady for six weeks at seven cases. The number of instances in Connecticut of variant B.1.617.2, first detected in India, also has not changed: there remains only one. The variant B.1.525, which hails from Africa and Europe, went up two cases, to 15. Cases of the "New York variant" of interest B.1.526 rose from 637 to 885. Instances of the other New York bug, B.1.526.1, climbed from 152 to 195.

Among the state's variants of concern, B.1.1.7 ("U.K.") is up from 1,849 to 2,532 cases. Californian variants B.1.427 crept up from 62 to 70, and B.1.429 up from 130 to 144; and Brazilian variant P.1 climbed from 40 to 77 cases. Cases of the South African variant B.1.351 rose from 23 to 28.

One substitution of therapeutic concern, E484K, was found in 796 variant cases, up from 557 last week. The other, L452R, was detected in 412 cases, a jump from 351 cases previously.

The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital beds fell overnight by 24. That brings the number of those hospitalized with the coronavirus in Connecticut to 198.

Coronavirus-associated deaths across the state rose by five in the data reported Friday. The COVID-19 death toll in Connecticut now stands at 8,168.

See Also: Only 26 Left: More CT Towns Drop From Coronavirus Red Zones

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