Coronavirus Milford: Cases and Positivity Rate Trending Upward

MILFORD, CT — The spread of the coronavirus in Milford is approaching 950 cases, the state Department of Public Health reported Tuesday.

COVID-19 cases eased off slightly in the city, as they did in most of the region, when spring gave way to summer. The numbers have been on an uptick since the start of September, as students have returned to area colleges and residents spend more time indoors.

The COVID-19 death toll in Milford is at 93, a climb of only four since the start of September. The trend is consistent with the global profile of the second wave of the virus, which has marked it as less lethal and more virulent than its spring incarnation. Those numbers can be traced to increased testing, better prepared hospitals, and the fact that a greater percentage of the newly infected are young, and less likely to become severely ill, or suffer comorbidities, than patients at the start of the outbreak.

As schools were reopening, Gov. Ned Lamont initiated a color-coded system that graphically illustrated towns' coronavirus positivity rates. He granted municipalities the option to return to phase 2 of the state reopening plan if their positivity rate hit 15 or more cases per 100,000 of population over a two-week period. Since then, all eyes have been on the state's number of "red zones," which have been growing at an alarming rate.

Milford is still a somewhat comfortable "yellow," although, as the map below shows, its neighbors are all pushing the needle in the wrong direction.

Connecticut's list of towns in the red zone for coronavirus infections jumped to 68 last week. In the week prior, it was at 30 towns. Around 60 percent of the state's population now lives in a community with an infection rate above 15 cases per 100,000 people per day.

Coronavirus positivity is trending upward in Milford, according to the most recent data release by the state Department of Public Health. Below are daily rates, snapshots of newly confirmed cases against the number of residents tested during a 24-hour period.

Statewide, the positivity rate rose to 6.74 percent Tuesday, the highest since May, and the virus continues to put people in the hospital at a steady clip. Another 52 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the total to 548.

The sudden jump in the statewide positivity rate came one day after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine was 90 percent effective in trials. The successful tests are the precursor to what Lamont said would be the "largest vaccination effort in the history of the world."