Daily coronavirus updates: COVID-19 hospitalizations declining in Connecticut, now at lowest level in six weeks

Scott Ball/The New York Times
Sebastian Sanchez, a student at Advanced Learning Academy in San Antonio, returns his COVID-19 test to a Community Labs staff member, in San Antonio, Texas on Sept. 16, 2021.

PUBLISHED: September 27, 2021 at 6:01 p.m. | UPDATED: September 27, 2021 at 10:01 p.m.

Connecticut’s COVID-19 hospitalizations declined over the weekend, state numbers show, continuing a recent trend.

Experts say the state’s coronavirus numbers are likely to decline over the coming weeks but caution that they could increase again later this fall.

Cases and positivity rate

Connecticut on Monday reported 1,444 new COVID-19 cases out of 64,771 tests, for a positivity rate of 2.23%. The state’s seven-day positivity rate now stands at 2.23% as well, essentially unchanged from Friday but down considerably from prior weeks.

Connecticut has averaged 484 COVID-19 cases a day over the past week, down sharply from the seven days prior.

As of Monday, Hartford, Windham and New London Counties were experiencing “high” levels of COVID-19 transmission as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while Connecticut’s other five counties were experiencing “substantial” transmission.

Hospitalizations

Connecticut now has 264 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, down 18 from Friday and fewest at a time since Aug. 15. Hospitalizations in Connecticut are down about 32% from the state’s delta variant peak in late August.

According to state numbers, about 75.8% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Connecticut are unvaccinated. Hospital officials say many of the vaccinated people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 were admitted for other reasons and do not have severe coronavirus symptoms.

Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer, estimates that only about 10% of those hospitalized with significant COVID-19 symptoms are vaccinated.

Deaths

Connecticut reports coronavirus-linked deaths once a week. On Thursday, the state reported 36 COVID-19 deaths over the past week, bringing its total during the pandemic to 8,483.

The United States has now recorded 688,982 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.

Vaccinations

As of Friday, 75.9% of all Connecticut residents and 87% of those 12 and older had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 68.5% of all residents and 78.6% of those 12 and older were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.