Within the last week, Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Attorney General William Tong and State Treasurer Shawn Wooden have tested positive for COVID-19 as cases continue to rise.
Since Mar. 28th the number of cases per day has increased by 66 percent, which is a percent change over eight times higher than the national daily average. According to the Governor’s Office, the state’s positivity rate as of April 13 was 6.23 percent with 126 hospitalized. Thirty-three percent of those hospitalized are not fully vaccinated.
The number of deaths has decreased by 74 percent with two people dying from COVID-19 on average, per day.
Connecticut has one of the highest percentages of fully vaccinated residents, only behind Vermont, and despite the surge in cases, hospitalizations have stayed about the same over the last two weeks with a one percent increase.
Gov. Lamont initially reported experiencing symptoms but has since returned to in-person meetings. Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz reported feeling well and encouraged residents to get vaccinated if they haven’t already, or stay up-to-date with boosters. Both Attorney General Tong and State Treasurer Shawn Wooden reported experiencing mild symptoms.
The current variant going around is BA.2, which is a subvariant Omicron, the dominant variant in the US, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC says that while BA.2 is more easily spread than previous variants, data suggests that the symptoms it manifests tend to be less severe.
Nationally, on average the U.S. is seeing 31,567 new cases per day, up to eight percent over the last two weeks. Additionally, the country is seeing 533 deaths from COVID-19 daily, down 26 percent over a 14-day period.
The most up-to-date numbers available for COVID-19 cases and deaths in Connecticut are 743,361 and 10,808, respectively.
Nationally, the U.S. has seen approximately 8.4 million total reported cases and is coming up on one million total reported deaths with 984,838 people dying from COVID-19 to date. However, it is worth noting that with the increase in the availability of at-home COVID-19 testing, the total number of positive cases may be higher than the official count.
Parts of the Capitol building and Legislative Office Building remain closed to the public due to the virus.
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