Middletown Coronavirus Update: 151 Confirmed Cases, 6 Deaths

MIDDLETOWN, CT — The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus has jumped specifically in Middletown over the past week, according to data from state health officials. As of Tuesday, there are now 151 cases in Middletown as opposed to just 77 on April 6. On Monday, Mayor Ben Florsheim reported that six people in Middletown have now died less than a week after the town’s first death was reported by the mayor.

In a radio interview on WICC 600 on Tuesday, Florsheim said that the town is attempting to focus on quarantine as opposed to attempting to do antibody testing to determine if local residents have already had the coronavirus and have since recovered. All along, Florsheim, the town’s approach to trying to limit the spread of the virus involves being proactive.

“We said at the very beginning when this was coming our way that we need to start planning as if (the pandemic) is already here,” Florsheim said in the interview, adding that local health officials believed from the beginning that Middletown is ahead of the curve in dealing with the new coronavirus.

The mayor added: “I think we’ve done that by just trying to communicate to our residents as much as possible about how important it is that they follow these social distancing protocols and to try to be really collaborative between all of our city agencies and non-profits and departments on making sure everybody knows what everybody is doing and where they can get their questions answered and problems solved. I think that has been serving us well so far.”

Florsheim, who became the youngest mayor in Middletown’s history when he was elected last year, said Tuesday that part of him went into the job expecting the unexpected but that nothing could have prepared him for the current reality.

“We’re just trying to do the same thing we would in any emergency,” Florsheim said.

Statewide, the number of positive cases jumped to 13,381 on Monday – an increase of 1,346 and the statewide death toll grew to 601, which represents an increase of 48 from Sunday.

In Middlesex County, 339 confirmed cases and 19 deaths have been reported by state officials while 35 people across the county remain hospitalized, according to state data. Fairfield County continues to report the largest number of confirmed cases as there are, as of Monday, 6,004 known confirmed cases (44.8 percent of the statewide total) and 262 deaths.