During a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Nov. 2, Lamont announced that he was pulling the entire state from the third phase of reopening and reverting back to the second phase, with more restrictions being put back in place.
In Phase 2, restaurants will be limited to 50 percent capacity indoors, with no more than eight people at a party. Restaurants will be closed to indoor dining as of 9 p.m., though takeout and delivery can still be provided until 9:30 p.m. daily.
Event venues will be restricted to 25 people indoors, and 50 people outdoors, and entertainment centers have their capacity capped at 100 people.
Religious gatherings are only permitted 50 percent capacity, with no more than 100 people at any one time.
The changes go into effect on Friday, Nov. 6.
“We are putting in these restrictions on a statewide basis now to make sure we don’t have to do more severe things later,” Lamont said.
The rise in cases continued over the weekend, with 2,651 newly confirmed cases between Friday, Oct. 30, and Sunday, Nov. 1 out of 79,066 positive cases.
The 3.4 percent positivity rate is down from a peak of more than 6 percent last week, but still higher than the rates were over the summer when Connecticut flattened the COVID-19 curve.
There are currently 340 COVID-19 patients, up from 329 on Friday, and there were 11 new virus-related deaths.
Since March, there have been a total of 69,825 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 4,032 probable cases.
A breakdown of COVID-19 cases, by county, as of Nov. 2, according to the state Department of Health:
- Fairfield: 23,429 confirmed (1,619 probable);
- Hartford: 17,808 (931);
- New Haven: 17,105 (943);
- New London: 3,848 (107);
- Litchfield: 2,248 (156);
- Middlesex: 1,996 (96);
- Tolland: 1,689 (136);
- Windham: 1,506 (22).
A complete breakdown by municipality can be found here by clicking and scrolling down.
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