Connecticut reported two additional COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, the fewest in one day since October, as the state continues to see a decline in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced 580 new COVID-19 cases out of 20,485 tests Tuesday, for a positivity rate of 2.8%. The state’s seven-day positivity rate now stands at 2.7%, the lowest it has been since Oct. 28.
“I think you can see here we continue to have some of our lowest positivity rates in months and this is a trend that is incredibly positive,” Lamont said.
Connecticut currently has 606 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, down 12 since Monday and the fewest since Nov. 11.
Coronavirus-linked deaths have slowed as well, though not at quite the same speed. After recording more than 1,000 deaths in January, the state has now reported 403 so far in February, including 151 over the past seven days.
Overall, Connecticut has now recorded 7,449 coronavirus-linked deaths during the pandemic, while the United States has seen 487,109, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
Lamont gets first vaccine shot
Lamont received his first COVID-19 vaccine dose Tuesday, while encouraging other Connecticut residents to do the same.
“I feel better already,” the governor joked after receiving the shot at First Cathedral Church in Bloomfield.
Lamont, 67, became eligible for vaccination last week when the state opened appointments to all residents age 65 and older. Though some governors got vaccinated early to set an example for people in their state, Lamont said he preferred to wait until his cohort was eligible.
About 14% of Connecticut residents have now received at least one COVID-19 dose, fourth among all states, while just under 6% have received both their required doses.
In total, more than 900,000 vaccine doses have been administered across Connecticut, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hartford HealthCare on Tuesday celebrated its 100,000th COVID-19 vaccine doses, administered to a homebound Manchester woman named Juanita Sullins. Officials said the health system has begun identifying and seeking out patients who cannot get to a vaccination site and delivering doses to them in their homes.
Focus on equity
At the vaccine clinic in Bloomfield where Lamont was vaccinated Tuesday, local political and clergy leaders stressed the importance of vaccination for all who are eligible, with a particular focus on Black and Latino communities that may have high rates of vaccine hesitancy.
“Hesitancy is real,” said Dr. Reginald Eadie, CEO of Trinity Health of New England and co-chair of Connecticut’s vaccine advisory group. “We have our challenge to listen to the community, partner with the community and make it easy for the community to have access to the vaccine.”
Multiple speakers acknowledged an extensive history of racism in medicine, which has likely contributed to hesitancy in Black communities, while reassuring residents about the safety and importance of vaccination.
They also emphasized the need to make vaccines available and accessible in Black and Latino communities. Numbers released last week showed that Black Connecticut residents have been far less likely to receive COVID-19 vaccine doses than white residents, likely in large part due to disparities in technology and transportation.
Rep. Bobby Gibson, vice chair of the legislative Black and Puerto Rican caucus, said that group met recently with acting public health commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford to discuss inequality in vaccine distribution.
“We had a talk about access, and we had a talk about getting [the vaccine] into our communities,” Gibson said.
Later in the day, at an equity roundtable in Hartford organized by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and also attended by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. John Larson, local and public health officials emphasized that access to the vaccine is the most significant barrier to vaccination.
“It’s not hesitancy. It’s access,” said Tiffany Donelson, the president of the Connecticut Health Foundation. “Meet people where they are.”
Donelson noted that drive-up vaccination sites — such as Connecticut’s largest site near East Hartford’s Rentschler Field — can’t be used by people who don’t have cars. Similarly, vaccine registration systems that require technology can’t be used by people who don’t have access to a computer or smart phone.
She said inequities in the state’s vaccine rollout mirror disparities seen in pre-pandemic health outcomes.
“What we’re seeing is just a reflection of a system that we’ve created to leave people behind,” Donelson said.
Nichelle Mullins, the co-chair of the Connecticut Vaccine Advisory Group allocations subcommittee and the president of Hartford’s Charter Oak Health Center, said at the roundtable that the state’s data on vaccination disparities was not a surprise.
“When the data came out last week, it looked like what we expected it to look like,” Mullins said.
Donelson added that the state now has a chance to right some of its wrongs — to make the vaccine rollout more equitable and to set itself on a path toward more equitable health care overall.
“This is an opportunity that we as a state can prove that we can eliminate some of our disparities,” she said. “We just need to make the right investments in doing that.”
Courant staff writer Emily Brindley contributed to this report.
Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.
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