Over 600 Daily Coronavirus Cases In Fairfield: Could Omicron Be Peaking?

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield reported a record number of coronavirus cases earlier this week. But could the ongoing wave of the highly contagious omicron variant be peaking in town?

“It is hard to say if we have peaked yet as our overall case(s) have not yet declined week over week but we are seeing some indication of leveling with this past week’s increase being much smaller than previous weeks’ increases,” Fairfield Health Department Director Sands Cleary said in an email.

Fairfield had 902 confirmed cases Dec. 27 to Jan. 2 and 934 from Jan. 3-9, according to town data.

Fairfield recorded 664 cases Monday, an all-time high, although Cleary noted the number included cases from Friday and the weekend as well as a reporting lag that resulted in an entire week of samples from Yale New Haven Health being recorded Monday. Fairfield’s previous largest single-day number of cases reported was 470 on Jan. 3. The town has recorded well under 200 cases per day since Tuesday.

The daily numbers for Fairfield cases based on specimen collection date — as opposed to date reported — are much less erratic, Cleary said, with a record of 205 cases on Dec. 28 and 135 confirmed Monday.

There may be some cause for optimism regarding the pandemic at the state level, as the daily coronavirus positivity rate declined to 20.27 percent Thursday after hovering in the mid-20s earlier in the week. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Connecticut dropped Thursday by 22 beds, to 1,917. Fairfield County coronavirus hospitalizations were down by 11 patients week-over-week, from 498 on Jan. 6 to 487 Thursday.

COVID-19 testing in Fairfield

Coronavirus testing availability, a source of frustration and anxiety for weeks in Connecticut, appears to be improving in town, Cleary said.

“Testing access has seemed to ease, we’re getting less calls and people I know have been able to find somewhere to get tested much easier than during the holiday times,” he said, adding that as of Thursday afternoon, Yale New Haven Health’s Fairfield testing site had Friday appointments available. “A few weeks ago many of the testing sites were booked about two weeks out.”