Lamont Pushes Booster Shots As COVID-19 Climbs In CT

CONNECTICUT — The 7-day coronavirus average is the highest it's been in Connecticut since early September, according to the latest data released by the state Department of Public Health.

The uptick in infections is prompting state health officials to expedite the rollout of COVID-19 booster clinics, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday. This holiday season, residents will be able to get their third jab at Bradley Airport, the New Haven and Stamford Metro-North stations, as well as over 960 other locations, including 417 school-based clinics, across the state.

Health officials are also making a "special effort" to bring clinics to nursing homes and long-term care facilities where the highest concentration of the most COVID-19-susceptible population can be found.

Lamont said that although the state infection rate has been on the rise, Connecticut is "still in relatively good shape" compared to neighboring states in the Northeast, where the coronavirus climb has been much more severe. The national COVID-19 map is a "mirror image of what it was 90 days ago" Lamont said, with the "hot spots" now up north and southern states enjoying much lower levels of infection. Both sections of the country have recorded more coronavirus cases in 2021 than they had in2020.

The governor reiterated that he did not foresee a general mask mandate in the future, but that "masking in schools continues to be important a little bit longer." There has been "very little" remote learning statewide this semester, Lamont said, noting, "those days of missing in-person learning are over."

As of Monday, 84 percent of residents age 18 and older have been fully vaccinated, making Connecticut number one in the country in that category, according to Lamont. The state is ninth in vaccine booster rollout, with 18 percent of its population on its third shot, and Lamont said he does not foresee a "booster mandate" in the state's future. In the tier of those aged 5-11, 20 percent of newly-eligible Connecticut residents have received their first dose of vaccine, compared to 10 percent nationally.

DPH commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said the number of COVID-19 cases in states even as highly vaccinated as Connecticut will continue to grow as "respiratory viruses circulate more in the winter."

The current escalation is also an indicator that residents' coronavirus immunity may be waning, especially among the older population, according to Juthani, who expressed hope that the current booster push would keep the numbers manageable through the winter.

With 2,060 cases confirmed over the weekend, out of 58,379 tests taken, Connecticut's daily coronavirus positivity rate reported Monday afternoon was 3.53 percent, a rise of 0.64 percent from the start of last week.

Hospitalizations climbed 21 beds over the weekend. As of Monday, there are 268 people being treated for the virus inside Connecticut hospitals; of those 74 ( 27.6 percent) are not fully vaccinated.

Most of those hospitalized (92) are in New Haven County.

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