CT COVID-19 Hospitalizations Soar To 500; Latest Town-By-Town Case Updates

CONNECTICUT — Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Public Health, said the state was "going on offense" in its 22-month battle with COVID-19, as the number of local residents hospitalized with COVID-19 soared 80 beds over the weekend.

As of Monday, there are 500 people being treated for the virus inside Connecticut hospitals; of those, 114, or 22.8 percent, are fully vaccinated.

Most of those hospitalized (151) are in Hartford County.

The agency's primary focus is on the delta variant, which Juthani said still claimed almost 100 percent of all cases. DPH reported a new coronavirus positivity rate of 5.80 percent on Monday, up a half percentage point from Friday's numbers.

The commissioner described the possibility of the latest variant, omicron, overtaking delta as a "good thing," as the early cases of COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant have been "mild."

Declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Nov. 26, omicron has spread quickly locally and abroad. Gov. Ned Lamont reported Connecticut's first case Saturday evening, and at least 17 states have now detected the new variant. The transmissibility of the new variant is "about ten times more than delta," Juthai said.

"The virus is not done with us yet, but we have so many tools in front of us now that we did not have a year ago," she said.

The state will be rolling out a phone app that residents may present at restaurants and other venues as proof of vaccination against COVID-19 "in short order," Juthani said. It will be up to the venues whether or not they require it of their patrons, she said.

Lamont, Juthai and other state and local officials made their remarks Monday morning during a news conference at Union Station in New Haven to promote the state's coronavirus vaccine booster program.

Connecticut is among the top 10 states in the country for both the administration of the initial vaccine series to those aged 5-11, as well as booster shots, according to Lamont.

"There's always going to be another variant, certainly until we see the rest of the world vaccinated the likes of which we see here in New Haven," the governor said. "If there's a new variant in southern Africa, it will be in Connecticut by the end of the month."

Appearing on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday, Lamont told host Maureen Brennan that, for all their obvious downsides, new variants were good for the state's booster business.

"Nothing gets people vaccinated with a booster like a fear of another variant coming. And so that's a good thing in the sense that we have more and more of our people getting the booster," Lamont said.

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Instructions on how to get COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters in Connecticut are available online, as is a list of walk-up clinics sponsored by DPH.

The state has established mobile COVID-19 booster clinics at these locations:

• New Haven: New Haven Public Library, 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – No appointment needed
• Stamford: Jackie Robinson Park, 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – No appointment needed
• Trumbull: Trumbull Mall, Friday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, – No appointment needed
• Waterbury: 910 Wolcott St, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Sunday – No appointment needed
• Windsor Locks: Bradley Airport, Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. – No appointment needed.