Coronavirus CT Updates: 19 Deaths, 875 Confirmed Total Cases

HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut had seven more coronavirus-related deaths reported Wednesday along with 257 new confirmed positive cases, according to the state Department of Public Health. Coronavirus hospitalizations also saw a large increase with 42 more cases since yesterday.

The state now has 875 confirmed coronavirus cases, 113 hospitalizations and 19 deaths. Fairfield County continues to see the majority of cases with 546 positive results; New Haven County has the second most at 127.

Testing capacity varies by the day in the state due to a shortage of testing reagent material. The state is prioritizing testing patients in hospitals first.

State officials announced new state programs to help keep small businesses afloat. Employees are also working to shorten the three-week unemployment benefit filing backlog. (For more information on this and other coronavirus related stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Hospitalizations by county:

• Fairfield: 47
• New Haven: 28
• Hartford: 24
• Tolland: 5
• Middlesex: 4
• Litchfield: 3
• New London: 2
• Windham: 0

Laboratory-confirmed cases by age group

• 0-9: 12
• 10-19: 19
• 20-29: 120
• 30-39: 131
• 40-49: 138
• 50-59: 172
• 60-69: 133
• 70-79: 84
• 80+: 74

State Working On 3-Week Unemployment Backlog, Small Business Loans Announced

The state Department of Labor has a three-week backlog for processing unemployment claims as it experiences a 20-fold increase in new claim volume since businesses started to close or reduce hours.

Lamont said the state is going to give all the resources it can to trim the three-week unemployment benefit backlog. Part of the issue is an antiquated computer system.

The Department of Labor has been implementing a new modern unemployment computer system for more than a year, but it won’t be complete for another year, said Connecticut COO Josh Geballe.

The state right now is pulling every lever it can by bringing in retirees to process claims, offering overtime and getting state employees with benefit processing experience back, Geballe said.

Connecticut officials announced a program for small businesses with up to 100 employees that would provide no-interest 18-month loans to help cover up to three months of operating expenses. The loan cap is $75,000 and there will be $25 million available in the first round of the program, said David Lehman, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

More information will be available Thursday on how to apply for the program. Nonprofits and sole proprietor businesses will also qualify.

Connecticut is waiting to see how much money local small and medium-sized businesses will get from the federal government as the U.S. Senate debates the stimulus bill.

Testing Capacity Varies By Day, State Assessing Overflow Sites

State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Cartter said that it’s unknown exactly when the coronavirus will peak in Connecticut. Social distancing could push the peak out to 10 to 12 weeks from now, but Cartter said there is no long-term data on coronavirus outbreaks as opposed to decades of data from influenza outbreaks.

The number of cases overall doubles every three to five days and testing is only showing the tip of the iceberg, he said.

The coronavirus testing situation changes everyday, Cartter said. One bottleneck is the amount of testing reagent that is available.

The state lab can process between 130 and 150 tests per day with a 24-hour result turnaround time. Yale’s lab has a similar turnaround time as well. Both of those facilities are being used to test people in acute care hospitals.

Commercial labs are being used for the drive-thru testing, but their turnaround time for results is four to six days.

A state task force is working on obtaining more ventilators, Cartter said. Several ambulatory care surgical centers have donated their ventilators and it is possible to have two patients on the same ventilator.

The state is also evaluating physical spaces for hospital overflow capacity. Some options include recently-closed nursing homes and state college dormitories. Gebelle said the issue isn’t a lack of physical spaces, but having the necessary staff and supplies to man the locations.

New Town-by-town numbers according to state health officials:

Andover 0
Ansonia 2
Ashford 0
Avon 4
Barkhamsted 0
Beacon Falls 1
Berlin 3
Bethany 0
Bethel 10
Bethlehem 3
Bloomfield 1
Bolton 2
Bozrah 0
Branford 6
Bridgeport 27
Bridgewater 1
Bristol 2
Brookfield 23
Brooklyn 0
Burlington 1
Canaan 0
Canterbury 0
Canton 0
Chaplin 0
Cheshire 0
Chester 0
Clinton 2
Colchester 0
Colebrook 0
Columbia 1
Cornwall 0
Coventry 3
Cromwell 1
Danbury 63
Darien 14
Deep River 1
Derby 1
Durham 0
East Granby 0
East Haddam 0
East Hampton 2
East Hartford 4
East Haven 5
East Lyme 1
East Windsor 0
Eastford 0
Easton 2
Ellington 0
Enfield 1
Essex 0
Fairfield 13
Farmington 8
Franklin 0
Glastonbury 7
Goshen 0
Granby 0
Greenwich 54

Griswold 0
Groton 1
Guilford 2
Haddam 1
Hamden 6
Hampton 0
Hartford 20
Hartland 0
Harwinton 4
Hebron 0
Kent 1
Killingly 0
Killingworth 1
Lebanon 0
Ledyard 0
Lisbon 2
Litchfield 2
Lyme 0
Madison 3
Manchester 6
Mansfield 1
Marlborough 0
Meriden 7
Middlebury 1
Middlefield 0
Middletown 2
Milford 8
Monroe 3
Montville 1
Morris 1
Naugatuck 3
New Britain 6
New Canaan 15
New Fairfield 12
New Hartford 0
New Haven 29
New London 0
New Milford 6
Newington 9
Newtown 12
Norfolk 0
North Branford 0
North Canaan 0
North Haven 0
North
Stonington 0
Norwalk 66
Norwich 2
Old Lyme 1
Old Saybrook 3
Orange 3
Oxford 3
Plainfield 0
Plainville 1
Plymouth 1
Pomfret 0
Portland 2

Preston 0
Prospect 1
Putnam 0
Redding 6
Ridgefield 41
Rocky Hill 8
Roxbury 0
Salem 0
Salisbury 3
Scotland 0
Seymour 5
Sharon 1
Shelton 6
Sherman 2
Simsbury 3
Somers 0
South Windsor 3
Southbury 5
Southington 8
Sprague 0
Stafford 11
Stamford 48
Sterling 0
Stonington 1
Stratford 11
Suffield 4
Thomaston 2
Thompson 0
Tolland 5
Torrington 4
Trumbull 4
Union 0
Vernon 4
Voluntown 0
Wallingford 2
Warren 0
Washington 2
Waterbury 17
Waterford 0
Watertown 1
West Hartford 6
West Haven 12
Westbrook 0
Weston 10
Westport 87
Wethersfield 3
Willington 0
Wilton 17
Winchester 0
Windham 0
Windsor Locks 6
Windsor 2
Wolcott 2
Woodbridge 3
Woodbury 1
Woodstock 2

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