CT Coronavirus: High-Infection 'Red Zone' Towns Now Number 135

CONNECTICUT — The number of Connecticut towns in the COVID-19 high-alert red zone has climbed by 25 towns, according to data released from the state Department of Public Health.

The news came just days after the first known U.S. case of the coronavirus Omicron variant was found in California. Tests later showed the Omicron variant had infected at least another five people in the New York City metropolitan area, as well as a man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November.

There has been no report of the new variant in Connecticut, but that has not lessened a surge in COVID-19 cases. DPH now numbers 135 towns in the highest alert category, up from 110 just last week.

These "red zone" towns are: Andover, Ashford, Avon, Barkhamsted, Beacon Falls, Berlin, Bethany, Bethlehem, Bolton, Bozrah, Branford, Bridgeport, Bridgewater, Bristol, Brookfield, Brooklyn, Burlington, Canterbury, Chaplin, Cheshire, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Colebrook, Columbia, Cornwall, Coventry, Cromwell, Darien, Deep River, Derby, East Haddam, East Hampton, East Haven, East Lyme, Eastford, Easton, Ellington, Enfield, Fairfield, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Goshen, Greenwich, Griswold, Groton, Guilford, Haddam, Hampton, Hartland, Harwinton, Hebron, Killingly, Killingworth, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Litchfield, Madison, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlebury, Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, Monroe, Montville, Morris, Naugatuck, New Britain, New Canaan, New Hartford, New Haven, New London, New Milford, Newington, North Branford, North Canaan, North Haven, North Stonington, Norwich, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Orange, Oxford, Plainfield, Plainville, Plymouth, Pomfret, Portland, Preston, Prospect, Putnam, Ridgefield, Rocky Hill, Salem, Seymour, Shelton, Sherman, Simsbury, Somers, South Windsor, Southbury, Southington, Sprague, Stafford, Sterling, Stonington, Stratford, Suffield, Thomaston, Thompson, Torrington, Trumbull, Union, Voluntown, Wallingford, Warren, Waterbury, Waterford, Watertown, West Haven, Westbrook, Wethersfield, Willington, Wilton, Winchester, Windham, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Wolcott, Woodbridge, Woodbury and Woodstock.

The color codes correspond to guidance from DPH. Populations in the red zone have reported 15 or more cases per 100,000 people over a two-week average.

In the latest numbers released Friday afternoon by the state Department of Public Health, another 863 cases of the coronavirus were confirmed. With 16,268 tests taken, Connecticut's daily coronavirus positivity rate is 5.30 percent, down 1.22 percent from Thursday's 10-month high.

Forty-four residents have died from COVID-19 over the past seven days, according to DPH. The coronavirus death toll in the state is currently 8,909.

Health officials are reporting that as of Wednesday, 25,179 cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut have been confirmed. Of the 2,432,105 persons who have completed their vaccine series, 1.04 percent of Connecticut’s fully vaccinated persons have contracted the virus, an 0.11 percent increase from last week's report from the Department of Public Health.

According to the vaccine tracker maintained by the Mayo Clinic, about 72 percent of Connecticut's total population has received all their COVID-19 vaccine shots as of Thursday evening, up 0.3 percent from last week's tally. Nationwide, just 59.5 percent of the population has completed their vaccine series. Connecticut's vaccination rate is behind only that of Vermont and Maine.

As of Thursday, those residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 include more than 95 percent of those over the age of 65, 94 percent of those between 55-64 (up 1 percent from last week), 85 percent of those between 45-54 (up 1 percent from last week), 86 percent of those between 35-44, 79 percent of those between 25-34, 73 percent of those between 18-24 (up 1 percent from last week), 81 percent of those between 16-17, 73 percent of those between 12-15 (up 1 percent from last week) and 24 percent of those aged 5-11 (up 3 percent from last week).

The graph above illustrates the slow progress toward complete vaccination.

Mansfield remains the vaccination outlier, still with just 39 percent of its population fully vaccinated. Of all Connecticut municipalities, only Canaan, with its population of 1,053, has fully vaccinated all its residents.

Hospitalizations rose by six in the data reported Friday. Four hundred and twenty patients are hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 as of Friday. Of those, 88, or 21 percent, are fully vaccinated.

Most of those hospitalized (124) are in Hartford County.

The charts above and below show the "relative risk," or the difference in risk when comparing rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated persons.

The latest data show unvaccinated residents have a 33 times higher risk of dying from the coronavirus, compared to the vaccinated. Their risk of hospitalization is 11 times greater.

Although coronavirus deaths in Connecticut have declined markedly since February, it is important to note that death — and hospitalization — rates have consistently been higher among unvaccinated persons compared to fully vaccinated persons.

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