Gov. Ned Lamont announced via Twitter this afternoon that an additional 469 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 1,993.
In addition, 404 have been hospitalized and there have been 34 fatalities. More than 11,900 tests have been performed statewide.
A county-by-county breakdown — based on where hospitals are located, not where patients reside — includes:
| County | Laboratory Confirmed Cases | Hospitalized Cases | Deaths |
| Fairfield County | 1,245 | 189 | 21 |
| Hartford County | 276 | 67 | 2 |
| Litchfield County | 87 | 5 | 0 |
| Middlesex County | 38 | 1 | 1 |
| New Haven County | 280 | 137 | 6 |
| New London County | 20 | 4 | 0 |
| Tolland County | 40 | 0 | 4 |
| Windham County | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1,993 | 404 | 34 |
This morning came word that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had granted Lamont”™s request for a major disaster declaration, with impacted state agencies and municipalities in all eight counties to be reimbursed for 75% of the costs associated with their response and emergency protective measures.
The governor”™s other request for disaster assistance, including individual assistance that could provide Connecticut residents with a number of critical benefits ”“ including expanded unemployment assistance, food benefits and child care assistance ”“ is still under review by the White House.
Also this morning, Lamont visited Bio-Med Devices in Guilford, whose president and CEO Dean Bennett is “going to provide the state of Connecticut with 100 (ventilators) right away and then as we ramp up production we hope to be able to supply more if they”™re needed.”
The governor said the state presently has about 950 ventilators.
In addition to filling orders for two versions of a ventilator, Bio-Med is also building a third machine, an oxygen blender, for patients who don”™t need a full ventilator and use oxygen through a tube in the nose.
As for equipment from Washington, D.C.”™s strategic stockpile, Lamont said: “We had 1,000 ventilators, 1,500 ventilators on order, ready to go. We have about 950 in the state right now. Agreed, shipped, ready to go. And guess what? We found out today, they said, sorry, we rerouted your shipment. Your case is not as urgent as other places right now.
“We”™re still down there, we”™re pushing hard, making sure that Connecticut gets what was promised, what we need,” the governor added.
During an afternoon livestream on Facebook, Lamont repeated his belief that the federal government should approach its distribution of equipment on a regional, rather than state-by-state basis, noting that the virus is hitting the New York metropolitan area, not just New York itself.
Pursuant to Governor LamontӪs Executive Order No. 7P, which was issued yesterday evening, Department of Public Health Commissioner Ren̩e D. Coleman-Mitchell late Saturday night issued an order directing state, local, and private sector partners to transition the homeless population into alternative, less congested housing for the purpose of providing adequate social distancing between all individuals. The goal is to decompress the current population by providing less populated settings.
The order also requires the development of non-congregate temporary housing for first responders and health care workers who are at reasonable risk of having been exposed to COVID-19 and cannot return to their usual residence because of the risk of infecting other household members.
In the meantime, the governors of Texas, Florida, Maryland and South Carolina have ordered people arriving from the New York metropolitan area ”“ including Connecticut and New Jersey ”“ and other hot spots to self-quarantine for at least 14 days upon arrival.
D.C. DEVELOPMENTS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN this morning that the U.S. may see “millions of cases” and between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths from the virus, with a worst-case scenario being millions of deaths in this country ”“ something he called “not impossible but very, very unlikely.”
“Whenever the models come in, they give a worst-case scenario and a best-case scenario,” Fauci said. “Generally, the reality is somewhere in the middle. I”™ve never seen a model of the diseases that I”™ve dealt with where the worst case actually came out. They always overshoot.”
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the U.S. ”“ nearly 140,000 confirmed cases and approaching 2,500 deaths as of this writing ”“ Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi questioned President Donald Trump’s response.
“I don’t know what the scientists said to him, when did this president know about this, and what did he know?” Pelosi, also appearing on CNN this morning, said. “What did he know and when did he know it? That’s for an after-action review. But as the president fiddles, people are dying.”
