A change in the criteria used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to count COVID-19 cases has resulted in Connecticut”™s numbers of positive test results and deaths to rise dramatically, Gov. Ned Lamont announced today.
As a result, the number of COVID-positive cases rose by 1,853 to 19,815, while deaths increased by 204 to 1,331.
The CDC “wanted to make sure we”™re speaking the same language as New York and California,” said Dr. Lynn Sosa, deputy state epidemiologist with the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
Last week, the CDC said in a statement on its website that its totals as of Tuesday would reflect “both confirmed and probable cases and deaths.”
“A probable case or death is defined by i) meeting clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19; or ii) meeting presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence; or iii) meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID19,” the CDC stated.
“State and local public health departments are now testing and publicly reporting their cases. In the event of a discrepancy between CDC cases and cases reported by state and local public health officials, data reported by states should be considered the most up to date,” the agency added.
Sosa said the state’s new numbers reflected data that has been adjusted since last Thursday.
Patients tested statewide increased by 3,047 to 62,806, while the number of hospitalizations, which had dropped each of the last two consecutive days, went up by 18.
Fairfield County”™s number of hospitalizations fell by 13 to 733, while ”“ partly for the aforementioned reasons ”“ its death toll went up by 65 to 512.
Stamford still has the most positive COVID-19 cases in the state, with 2,046, followed by Bridgeport (1,356), New Haven (1,134), Norwalk (942), Waterbury (872), Danbury (836), Hartford (704), Greenwich (562), West Haven (499), Hamden (424) and Stratford (421).
“How We Feel”
The governor also announced that Connecticut is the first state to officially sanction the use of How We Feel, a new app that allows individuals to quickly self-report age, gender, ZIPcode, symptoms, health conditions and testing results, with an eye toward pinpointing coronavirus hotspots and predict areas that could see spikes in COVID-19 cases, among other data. The state”™s deployment of the app will be free of charge, Lamont said.
The governor also lauded the increased amount of testing going on around Connecticut and applauded the federal government for “getting out of the way” and allowing states to pursue their own entrepreneurial strategies in acquiring swabs and reagents. In addition, the CDC is sending out “thousands of contact tracers,” which will play a role in the state”™s reopening strategy.
Lamont predicted a “dramatic ramp-up” in testing before May 20, which is the date when schools and nonessential businesses are nominally being allowed to reopen.
As for the number of protests in various states to reopen sooner rather than later ”“ a “CT Liberty Rally” is planned this evening in Hartford, starting at the state capitol and moving to the governor’s mansion ”“ Lamont said, “We are beginning to bend the curve ”“ this is no time to take our eye off the ball.”
He also paraphrased Dr. Albert Ko, professor of epidemiology and medicine and department chair at the Yale School of Public Health, and co-chair of the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group, who challenged such protesters to “walk through one of my ICU units” to see the suffering that is still going on.
STILL NO MOVE BY CONGRESS
Congressional leaders are still trying to hammer out a deal on adding more money to the Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out of its initial $349 billion funding last Thursday. In effect, Republicans favor earmarking the money for small businesses, while Democrats want to add money for hospitals and state and local governments.
Depending on how negotiations between the two parties go, Congress could ultimately grant between $300 billion and $450 billion to the PPP.
THE NUMBERS
As of this writing, there are more than 778,000 positive cases and over 41,500 virus-related deaths in the U.S., with about 72,000 recovered; globally, there are nearly 2.5 million positive cases and over 169,500 deaths, with over 644,000 recovered.
