CT Coronavirus: Positivity Rates, Red Zones, Continue To Drop

CONNECTICUT —The daily coronavirus positivity rate in the state dropped back down to just a tick above 2 percent on Thursday, after spending the last couple of days over 3 percent.

More meaningfully, the number of hospitalizations dropped by 10, to 485 beds. This is the second straight day coronavirus hospitalizations have been below 500, and the lowest it has been since the beginning of November.

Another 19 deaths were reported, bringing the state COVID-19 death toll to 7,614.

There were 975 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Connecticut overnight, bringing the state total to 279,159.

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More towns are dropping off the state's red alert level for coronavirus infections. Towns fall into the red zone when average daily cases exceed 15 per 100,000 population over a two-week average — 116 of 169 towns are still in the red zone, down from 138 last week, and a far cry from late last years when nearly every town except a few sparsely populated ones were red.

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

Orange (10-14): Bethlehem, Canton, Cheshire, Chester, Coventry, East Granby, East Haddam, East Lyme, Easton, Farmington, Haddam, Hebron, Litchfield, Monroe, Newtown, Oxford, Putnam, Redding, Salisbury, Simsbury, Somers, Southbury, Stafford, Sterling, Weston, Westport, Willington, Winchester, Windsor Locks and Woodstock.

Yellow (5-9): Bolton, Burlington, Granby, Middlefield, Old Lyme, Tolland, and Woodbury.

Gray (less than five): Barkhamsted, Bridgewater, Canaan, Colebrook, Cornwall, Eastford, Franklin, Goshen, Lisbon, Morris, New Hartford, Norfolk, Pomfret, Roxbury, Scotland and Warren.

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