COVID-19 Hospitalizations Jump To Highest Level In 2 Months In CT

CONNECTICUT — Coronavirus hospitalizations jumped to 108 over the weekend, marking the first time in two months that the number of COVID-19 patients in Connecticut hospitals exceeded 100, according to state health officials.

On Friday, the number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the state was 76, and a week ago, the number was 50, meaning they have more than doubled during that timeframe. See the chart below.

Between last Monday and Thursday, the most recent time period available, no new coronavirus deaths had been reported in Connecticut.

The number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in the state increased by 589 over the weekend, out of more than 25,900 tests for the virus, which represents a positivity rate of 2.27 percent.

Monday's increase in hospitalizations comes as Gov. Ned Lamont and state officials urge Connecticut residents to get vaccinated, because the virus' highly infectious Delta variant is now the dominant strain in the state and throughout the U.S.

"I don't know where this virus is going to go, but I know that if people get vaccinated, that's the best protection we have against it," Lamont said during a news conference Monday morning in New Haven.

The hospitalizations are concentrated in the state's three most populated counties, Hartford (34 hospitalizations), New Haven (33) and Fairfield (30). No other county has more than eight.