Coronavirus Delta Variant, Infection Rate, On The Rise In CT

CONNECTICUT — As the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spike across the U.S., vaccination rates have slowed.

Infections of the delta variant now account for 83 percent of known COVID-19 cases in the country, while vaccinations have slowed to about a half-million per day. The delta variant is 60 percent more transmissible than the alpha variant, which caused a second lockdown in the U.K., and nearly twice as contagious as the original virus.

Over 77 percent of the coronavirus variants of concern in circulation in Connecticut are of the delta variety, according to the Global Initiative for Sharing Avian Influenza Data. That percentage has more than doubled in just the past month.

All the coronavirus vaccines available to Connecticut residents, including the single-dose from Johnson & Johnson, have proven effective against the delta variant. During a news conference Thursday, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz called the current state of the COVID-19 crisis in the state "a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

The number of Connecticut residents hospitalized with COVID-19 has also more than doubled in the past month, to 62 beds. It's still nowhere near last spring's highs, which threatened to swamp intensive care units across the state.

In Connecticut, just 42.7 percent of children aged 12-15 have been fully vaccinated as of July 21. With just over a month before the start of school, and with the vaccine having been available to that age group since the beginning of June, all signs indicate there is neither a likelihood nor a desire among parents that all children be vaccinated before schools reopen. School districts will be tasked with a major initiative to get children vaccinated for the fall, Bysiewicz said.

The state has not yet provided information to school districts regarding what, if any, coronavirus mitigation protocols should be in place when schoolhouse doors open in about five weeks. What Gov. Ned Lamont has said is that districts will no longer be required to provide remote learning, an option that proved mostly unpopular with teachers during the 2020-21 school year.

Lamont said Thursday it would still "take another two or three weeks" before the state Department of Public Health could provide any additional guidance to school districts.

When it comes to coronavirus mitigation protocols, the state has generally followed the guidelines espoused by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On May 13, the CDC eased its mask recommendations for the fully vaccinated, saying they didn't need to use them or practice social distancing.

But CDC Director Rochelle Walensky may have signaled a shift on Wednesday, when she told a Senate hearing that the agency is actively reviewing its suggested pandemic protocols as the virus continues to evolve.

"A lot has changed since May 13. We now have a variant circulating in this country that at the time was 3 percent (of new cases) and is now 83 percent and much more transmissible," Walensky said.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot raised the prospect of a return to mask-wearing on Tuesday, even as the Windy City preps to host the 4-day music festival Lollapalooza next week.

Over 50 percent of Californians are being asked to mask-up again, as 17 counties are requiring even fully vaccinated Golden State residents to wear face coverings as a precaution while inside places like grocery stores, movie theaters and retail outlets.

Connecticut is "in a different situation," according to Lamont, who continues to steer the state within the CDC guardrails that advise mask use only for the unvaccinated. "But I will watch it, if I see a steep curve, especially with hospitalizations. That’s the metric I follow,” the governor said July 20.

Others are following the money. Yoel Minkoff, writing for investing community Seeking Alpha, said the current mood has made mask-makers a "buy." Shares of personal protection equipment manufacturer Lakeland Industries (LAKE) surged 7 percent on Wednesday. The stock prices for mask makers Alpha Pro Tech (APT) and Allied Healthcare Products (AHPI) also climbed 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting more than 40,000 new coronavirus cases a day, up from a low of 11,000 in June. In Connecticut, the daily positivity rate reported Thursday was 2.22 percent, up from 0.4 percent a month ago.

Although the state's coronavirus infection map is far from the sea of scarlet it was in the early part of 2021, red zones, once gone, have begun to reappear.

Franklin has again recorded a positive case rate of 26 per 100,000 population over the last 2-week reporting period, while Salem returns to the red zone map with 24.5 case rate.

Towns fall into the red zone when they report 15 or more cases per 100K over a 2-week average. The color codes correspond to guidance from the state Department of Public Health.

There were four coronavirus-associated deaths over the past week, and they were all part of one day's dataset, the most recent released by the DPH. The state death toll for the pandemic is currently 8,286.

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