CT COVID-19 Positivity Rate Climbs To Highest Level In Months; Town-By-Town Case Updates

CONNECTICUT — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert and the president's chief medical advisor, is urging Americans worried about the latest coronavirus variant to take it down a notch.

The advice came on Monday as the Connecticut Department of Public Health reported a new coronavirus positivity rate of 5.25 percent, the highest it's been since the end of March.

Fauci told "CBS Mornings" on Monday that "we should not be freaking out" about omicron, which the World Health Organization has classified as a "variant of concern."

"We should be doing the things that we know work when you're dealing with a pandemic virus. It's not the time to panic," Fauci said.

This latest riff on the virus was first detected in South Africa, and has now spread to at least 14 countries. Fauci said the variant has "a transmission advantage," based upon his interpretation of the early data provided by South African epidemiologists.

On Monday, the federal government imposed travel restrictions on travel on South Africa and seven other countries in the region.

Omicron "might evade some of the immune parameters that we have," such as antibody and plasma treatments as well as existing vaccines, Fauci told CBS.

Scientists do not know whether the symptoms of those infected with the omicron variant will be more or less severe than those experienced by delta variant patients, but they say this time they're ahead of the game. CDC officials said the early detection of the variant in South Africa enabled health officials to put preventive measures in place faster than it was able to do with delta earlier this year.

Gov. Ned Lamont released a statement Sunday assuring residents that the state Department of Public Health was following the spread of the new variant closely.

Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and a key Lamont advisor since the start of the pandemic, said it's not a matter of "when" the variant arrives in the U.S.

"It's almost definitely here already, just looking at the number of cases coming off planes this weekend. It's almost a certainty that there have been cases that have gotten into the United States," Gottlieb said Sunday in an interview with "Face the Nation."

For Connecticut, Lamont said "the best defense against COVID-19 is a good offense,"and urged residents to "to mask while in indoor public places, practice proper hand hygiene, get tested, and stay home if you feel sick."

The number of local residents hospitalized with COVID-19 jumped 54 beds over the weekend. As of Monday, there are 354 people being treated for the virus inside Connecticut hospitals; of those, 92, or 26 percent, are fully vaccinated.

Most of those hospitalized (102) are in New Haven County.

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