45°
In his latest COVID-19 update, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced that there were 53,948 tests administered on Thursday, Dec. 9, resulting in 3,280 laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus as the daily positive infection rate dipped to 6.08 percent, down from 6.48 percent the previous day.
Lamont said that of the 3,280 new cases, nine were confirmed to be of the Omicron variant, bringing the total to 11 in the state since it started rapidly spreading.
In the past week, Connecticut hospitals recorded 37 new virus-related deaths, bringing the total as of Thursday, Dec. 9 to 8,946 statewide since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Nine new COVID-19 patients were admitted to a Connecticut hospital, bringing the total being treated up to 585, more than double what was being reported two weeks ago.
Of the 585 patients who are hospitalized, 450 (76.9 percent) are not fully vaccinated, according to Lamont.
According to state health officials, in the past week, unvaccinated people in Connecticut had a five-times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated persons.
Unvaccinated people also had a 16-times greater risk of dying from COVID-19.
"(This) is distressing since we have 95 percent of our people, eligible people, have had at least one shot. Obviously, the overwhelming majority of those infected are unvaccinated," Lamont stated. "You can just see that this germ is like a heat-seeking missile, really going right at the unvaccinated, but also, the number of folks in."
Connecticut continues to be among the quickest states to roll out their COVID-19 vaccines, with 2,782,103 first doses administered as of Dec. 9, while 2,514,321 have completed the vaccination process with both shots.
A breakdown of which populations have received the most vaccines, by age group, according to the most recent update from the Department of Public Health:
- 65+: >95 percent
- 55-64: 95 percent;
- 45-54: 86 percent;
- 35-44: 87 percent;
- 25-34: 80 percent;
- 18-24: 74 percent;
- 16-17: 81 percent;
- 12-15: 73 percent;
- 5-11: 27 percent.
The latest breakdown of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in Connecticut since March 2020, by county, on Dec. 10:
- Fairfield: 119,156 (2,329 deaths);
- New Haven: 113,940 (2,288);
- Hartford: 106,689 (2,630);
- New London: 31,159 (510);
- Litchfield: 19,253 (347);
- Middlesex: 16,384 (403);
- Windham: 15,445 (231);
- Tolland: 12,586 (205).
A complete list of cases, by communities, can be found here by clicking and scrolling down.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
