Over 130 CT Towns Now In Coronavirus Red Zone

CONNECTICUT — The number of communities falling within the state's red alert level for coronavirus infections rose by 27 towns this week, as the number of variant cases continued to spread.

The southwest portion of the state is "a little hotter" this week, Gov. Ned Lamont said during a news conference Thursday. He speculated that the higher infection rate was "related to the New York variant coming up."

Towns fall into the red zone when average daily cases exceed 15 per 100,000 population over a two-week average. There are now 132 of 169 towns still in the red zone, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The color codes correspond to guidance from the state Department of Public Health about various activities.

Orange (10-14): Essex, Farmington, Hebron, Ledyard, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Salem, Salisbury, Sharon, Simsbury, Stafford, Stonington, Waterford, Willington and Winchester

Yellow (5-9): East Lyme

Gray (less than five): Ashford, Bozrah, Bridgewater, Canaan, Chester, Colebrook, Cornwall, Eastford, Franklin, Goshen, Hampton, Hartland, Lisbon, Lyme, Morris, Norfolk, North Canaan, Scotland, Union, Voluntown and Warren

There was one COVID-19-associated death this past week in a nursing home, a resident of Glastonbury Health Care Center. There were no coronavirus fatalities in any of the state's assisted long-term care facilities.

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The number of Connecticut students infected with the coronavirus fell 384 cases in the past week, to 431, a huge 47 percent drop. The number of infections among school district staff also fell, by 41 cases, to 54.

Although the infections are trending in the right direction, the number of schools with students attending in-person fell by 46 percent, to 245.

Where the student or staff member — which includes teachers, custodial staff, clerical, bus transport, food service and administrators — got infected is not tracked in the data. Investigations to date have shown the great majority of students or staff are getting infected in the community outside of the school, according to the state Department of Public Health

Data presented below are the total of all student and staff cases reported for a school for the previous week, Thursday – Wednesday. If no cases were reported, 0 cases are displayed. If a school reported 1-5 cases, <6 is displayed. If 6 or more cases were reported, the exact number is displayed. In order to ensure confidentiality, data are suppressed for all schools reporting 1-5 cases for a particular reporting period.