Already at its highest level since widespread testing began last year, Connecticut’s COVID-19 seven-day positivity rate jumped again Wednesday, reaching 7.8%, as the state’s latest coronavirus outbreak continues to accelerate.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have surged in Connecticut over recent months as the weather has cooled and the highly contagious omicron variant has arrived, leaving local hospitals to treat hundreds of coronavirus patients on top of a full load of other patients.
“We expected at this time that omicron’s impact would be hitting Connecticut, and it’s beginning to affect us right now,” Dr. Ajay Kumar, chief clinical officer at Hartford HealthCare, said Wednesday. “I think we’re going to see continued increase in prevalence over the next several days and probably the early part of January.”
Dr. Ulysses Wu, an infectious disease specialist at Hartford HealthCare, said he fears a “double-hump” over the coming months, with an initial peak in COVID-19 transmission driven by the delta variant followed by an additional peak driven by the omicron variant.
Amid Connecticut’s recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Yale New Haven Health announced Wednesday that all visitors must show proof of either vaccination or a negative PCR test before entering any hospitals in the system.
Patients will be allowed only one visitor a day, who must be 18 or older, the health system said.
“In response to the increase in COVID-19 cases, we made the difficult decision to require proof of vaccination across our health system to keep our patients, visitors and staff as safe as possible,” Dr. Tom Balcezak, Yale New Haven’s chief clinical officer, said in a statement. “These visitation guidelines will balance preventing the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 with the needs of our patients and their loved ones.”
Exceptions may include partners of patients in labor, patients with disabilities and patients in end-of-life situations.
Yale New Haven Health operates Yale New Haven Hospital, as well as Bridgeport Hospital, Greenwich Hospital and Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London and other facilities.
Elsewhere in Connecticut, Middlesex Hospital announced Wednesday it would shorten visiting hours, allowing visitors only from 2-7:30 p.m.
Hartford HealthCare officials said Wednesday they have not changed their visitation policy.
Cases and positivity rate
Connecticut reported 3,366 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday out of 37,678 tests, for a daily positivity rate of 8.93%. The state’s seven-day positivity rate now stands at 7.78%, the highest it has been since widespread testing began more than 18 months ago.
Connecticut has now averaged 2,729 daily COVID-19 cases over the past week, the most in a seven-day period since mid-January. Unvaccinated residents have been about five times as likely to test positive in recent weeks as vaccinated residents, according to state numbers.
All eight Connecticut counties — as well as the rest of those in the Northeast region — are currently recording “high” levels of COVID-19 transmission as defined by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With this level of transmission, the CDC advises people to wear a mask in public indoor settings.
Hospitalizations
As of Wednesday, Connecticut has 824 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, down 13 from Tuesday but up more than 300% since the end of October.
According to the state, 75.4% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Hospital officials say the rate is even higher when looking specifically at people with severe symptoms.
Deaths
Connecticut reports COVID-19 deaths on Thursdays. Last week, the state recorded 56 deaths, bringing its total during the pandemic to 9,002.
As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have surged in Connecticut over recent weeks, deaths have risen slightly but still remain far below the levels recorded last winter.
The United States has now recorded 808,414 COVID-19 deaths, according to the New York Times.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday, 87.6% of all Connecticut residents and 95% of those 12 and older had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 74.2% of all residents and 83.4% of those 12 and older were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Additionally, about 38.4% of fully vaccinated Connecticut residents 18 or older have received a booster dose.
The CDC warns that booster shots are sometimes misclassified as first doses, likely inflating the reported number of first-dose coverage and understating the true number of people who have received boosters.
Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.
