CT Coronavirus Updates: 17 More Deaths, 1,200+ New Cases

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont was optimistic Monday that Connecticut's social distancing efforts were going a long way in preventing the exponential growth of new coronavirus cases. Still, the battle could go on for a year or more, he said.

There were 1,231 more positive cases announced Monday, along with 17 more deaths and 79 hospitalizations. That puts positive cases at 6,906, the death toll at 206 and hospitalizations at 1,221. The state has tested more than 26,000 people for COVID-19.

The deaths include any person tested positive for COVID-19 around the time of death. The Office of the State Medical Examiner determines if COVID-19 was a contributing factor to the death.

Lamont said the state is using hospitalization and death data as a better indicator of infections because testing capacity can vary daily. While Connecticut saw a big jump in positive tests Monday that is largely because the state tested 3,400 people, which is a major increase in the number of tests administered.

Lamont remained optimistic that Connecticut could "flatten the curve" of the outbreak as hospitalizations and deaths appear to be going up linearly instead of exponentially.

“I take this as reasonable good news … the situation could’ve been a lot more severe,” Lamont said.

He said New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Massachusetts' infection rate is higher than Connecticut's and that "social distancing may be having a positive impact" here. He said the state is making some progress and he added that the "health system is bending not breaking."

Testing details and this could still take a year

Abbott Labs' 15-minute COVID-19 test kits were delivered to Stamford Hospital and more hospitals will have the rapid test kits by the end of the week, Lamont said.

Still, Lamont said the fight against coronavirus could last a year. The reminder came during a talk with Vice President Mike Pence’s coronavirus task force.

"When we talk about the next day it may be the next year and it may be that there are a series of rolling pandemics over a period of time," Lamont said. "So we are thinking very carefully as we maybe get to the backside of increase in our infections … how can we thoughtfully get people back to work without having another wave of infections."

More testing for current coronavirus cases and antibody testing to see who has developed immunity to the new coronavirus could go a long way in preventing resurgent spikes in cases, officials said.

Prisons, nursing homes and the homeless

State Department of Correction Commissioner Roland Cook announced that more than 700 state inmates have been released since March 1, which is the largest amount of releases during a month in state history.

A total of 32 DOC staff members and 21 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19. Sixteen inmates have tested negative and the state is waiting on results for another 41 inmate tests.
More than 100 people held a drive-by protest outside of the governor’s residence in Hartford Monday. They demanded that DOC release inmates at a greater rate to limit infections. Lamont encouraged people to call his office to talk instead of going outside to protest.

The ACLU of Connecticut tweeted that the governor’s constituent line goes to the 211 service line.
DOC is quarantining inmates who test positive for COVID-19. Social visits to prisons have been eliminated and inmates are being allowed two free phone calls per week. Other steps are being taken to reduce congregation including serving meals in cells.

About a third of nursing homes in Connecticut have at least one confirmed COVID-19 case. There have been 477 residents who have tested positive with 142 hospitalizations and 65 deaths.

He said the state is working to create COVID-19 only and COVID-19 free nursing homes. The state is putting a plan into place to establish nursing home facilities specifically for COVID-19 cases in an effort to prevent rapid infections.

State officials are also working to quarantine the homeless and 1,500 beds have been created across 14 hotels, Lamont said.

Examining the numbers

• Fairfield 3,719 cases, 101 deaths
• Hartford 882 cases, 31 deaths
• Litchfield 230 cases, 8 deaths
• Middlesex 135 cases, 7 deaths
• New Haven 1,468 cases, 41 deaths
• New London 65 cases, 4 deaths
• Tolland 103 cases, 13 deaths
• Windham 40 cases, 1 death
• 264 cases are pending location

Of the 206 reported deaths, 110 involved people over the age of 80; 49 were between 70 and 79; 28 were between 60 and 69; 10 were between 50 and 59; seven were between the age of 40 and 49; one was between 30 and 39; and one was a newborn. Of the deaths, 127 were men and 78 were women.

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Hospitalizations by county:

• Fairfield 572
• New Haven 384
• Hartford 213
• Middlesex 22
• Litchfield 15
• New London 10
• Tolland 3
• Windham 2

Town-by-town coronavirus numbers