CT COVID-19 Expert Predicts New Delta Wave After Labor Day

CONNECTICUT — The Northeast is not out of the woods, according to a leading expert on how the coronavirus has spread during the pandemic.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, senior advisor to Gov. Ned Lamont's Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group, and Westport resident, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday that Connecticut and surrounding states are due for another jump in COVID-19 cases.

When it hits, Gottlieb said the highly transmissible delta variant will be to blame, at last showing its true colors.

"I don’t think that that was the true delta wave. I think that that was a delta warning. I think our true delta wave is going to start to build after Labor Day here in the Northeast and the northern part of the country," Gotlieb said.

He said he is advising schools in the area to increase the frequency of their COVID-19 testing, as well as adopting mask protocols and improving ventilation.

"We’ve seen a lot of studies right now that if you do routine testing in the schools once a week — and preferably twice a week — you're going to pick up infection before it becomes dense epidemics in that school setting," Gottlieb said.

30% Of New Connecticut COVID-19 Cases Are Fully Vaccinated: DPH

Of the 2,654 coronavirus cases recorded by the Department of Public Health in the most recent 7-day reporting period, 1,824 were not fully vaccinated. The remainder, 830, or 31.3 percent, had completed their vaccine series.

DPH is also reporting that as of Thursday, 8,617 cases breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in the state have been confirmed, up from 7,121 last week. Sixty-five coronavirus-related deaths have occurred among those breakthrough cases, up from 53 the previous week.

These deaths represent 6.8 percent of all COVID-19 deaths since Feb. 9, according to the DPH report. Nearly 77 percent of the fatalities have been among patients 75 years of age and older.

From the top of the pandemic through Wednesday, of the more than 2.2 million people in Connecticut have completed their vaccine series, 0.38 percent have contracted the virus, up about 0.06 percent from last week's report.

Nationwide, as of Aug. 30, 2,437 fully vaccinated people have died as a result of the virus, and 87 percent of them have been age 65 or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The charts above and below also shows the "relative risk," or the difference in risk when comparing rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated persons.

Although coronavirus deaths in Connecticut have declined markedly since February, it is important to note that death — and hospitalization — rates have consistently been higher among unvaccinated persons compared to fully vaccinated persons.

According to DPH, unvaccinated residents have a 5-times higher risk of being infected with, and being hospitalized as a result of, COVID-19, compared to people vaccinated against the virus. Their risk of dying is seven times greater.

As of Sept. 2, the COVID-19 death toll in Connecticut was 8,394. There were 39 coronavirus-associated fatalities reported in the past week.

The number of COVID-19 patients in facilities throughout the state reported on Friday was 365, up eight beds overnight, but down 13 from the previous weekend.

The daily coronavirus positivity rate has averaged 3.41 percent for the past two weeks. On Friday, DPH reported it as 2.73 percent, on the basis of 665 new confirmed COVID-19 cases out of 24,349 tests.

See Also: CT Coronavirus Red Zones Hold Steady; Vaccinations Inch Up Slowly