By Paul Hughes, Republican-American
HARTFORD — The number of diagnosed cases of coronavirus disease in Connecticut topped 30,000 with an additional 648 positive tests reported Tuesday.
Public officials also reported the first daily increase in the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 after 12 consecutive days of net declines between new admissions and discharges.
Hospitalizations increased by 36 patients since Monday to 1,500 statewide. A 14-day decline in the hospitalization rate is crucial to Gov. Ned Lamont’s reopening strategy.
Despite the uptick Tuesday, Lamont is still planning to allow some businesses to open back up to the public on May 20.
The one-day increase is not resetting the partial reopening countdown, said Josh Geballe, the chief operating officer of the Lamont administration.
“The concept is a rolling average, so we know that particularly as the hospitalizations continue to decline that eventually they will flatten out,” he said. “They’re not going to go to zero, and so the concept was 14 days of continuous decline, but looking at a rolling average. So, today is just one data point, but we’re obviously going to be watching it very carefully in the coming days.”
Lamont said reopening guidance will be provided to the applicable businesses later this week.
He said the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group has been consulting affected businesses and industry associations representing them. The independent, privately-run panel of advisers is preparing reopening recommendations for the governor’s consideration.
Hospitalizations increased in seven of the state’s eight counties between Monday and Tuesday.
There were combined increases of 36 patients in the three hardest hit counties — Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven. There were increases of one patient each in Litchfield, Middlesex, New London and Tolland counties, and a decrease of four patients in Windham County.
Hospitals in Fairfield County saw a net increase of 12 patients to 519. The county continued to lead in hospitalizations, as well as infections and deaths. It is where the coronavirus first surfaced in Connecticut.
The largest overnight increase was 17 patients in New Haven County. A total of 504 COVID-19 patients were being treated in its hospitals. A net increase of seven patients in Hartford County raised its total to 369.
The number of reported coronavirus-related deaths increased to 2,633, up 77 from Monday. The death toll includes confirmed and probable deaths due to COVID-19.
There have been 935 deaths in Fairfield County, 804 deaths in Hartford County, and 610 deaths in New Haven County. The fatalities in the remaining counties ranged from four in Windham County to 95 each in Litchfield and Middlesex counties.
An additional 3,313 tests for COVID-19 were reported Tuesday. To date, 108,643 tests have been performed.
There have been 202 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Naugatuck and 40 in Beacon Falls as of Tuesday, the Naugatuck Valley Health District reported. There have been four coronavirus-related deaths of Naugatuck residents, according to the health district.
On Tuesday, Prospect Mayor Robert Chatfield told the Town Council there have been 44 laboratory-confirmed cases in town and that figure includes people who have since recovered.
Elio Gugliotti contributed to this report.
