CT Hospitalizations Rise; 4th County To 'High Transmission' List

CONNECTICUT — The daily coronavirus positivity rate has dropped back below 3 percent, as hospitalizations associated with the virus continue to rise in the state and another county is named to the most severe COVID-19 transmission category.

Health officials have made transmission of COVID-19 delta variant their focus, as more towns enact new mandates requiring both the unvaccinated and vaccinated to wear masks while inside any almost every publically accessible venue.

Even more towns found themselves part of the "red zone" this week, the state's color coded designation for municipalities at the highest level of coronavirus alert. There are now 39 Connecticut municipalities reporting 15 or more cases per 100,000 over a 2-week average.

Although hospitalizations have climbed steadily since the middle of July, intensive care units in local hospitals are far from being overwhelmed.

Hartford County hospitals lead the state with most beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, with 82. New Haven follows with 76.

Middlesex County was placed into the "High Transmission" category by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. The classification is defined by 100 or more cases per 100,000 people, or a positivity rate of 10 percent or higher, over the past seven days. It joins New Haven, Hartford and New London in the CDC's the most severe transmission designation.

There were 542 new cases of COVID-19 recorded on Thursday, bringing the total in Connecticut to 361,836 across the pandemic. With 20,236 tests logged over the same period, the daily coronavirus positivity rate dropped back below 3 percent, to 2.68 percent.

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