COVID-19

COVID -19 Hospitalizations in Connecticut Decline Again

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Coronavirus hospitalizations continue to fall in Connecticut, according to Gov. Ned Lamont.

Net hospitalizations fell by 26 on Tuesday, to 1,732 currently in the state.

It is the sixth straight day of declines.

There are 315 new cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut. That is the smallest increase in cases in weeks, Lamont said.

The number of COVID-19 deaths climbed by 77. The death toll stands at 2,089.

Contact Tracing

Experts from the state Department of Public Health joined Gov. Lamont during a news conference on Tuesday to discuss Connecticut's plans for contact tracing to help track the virus throughout the state.

The agency has teamed up with Microsoft on a project called ContaCT, according to Kristen Soto, director of infectious diseases for the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

Contact tracing entails identifying people who are positive for COVID-19 and then determining other people who may have come in contact with that person, who may also be infected.

The process will use about 300 people from DPH and local health departments to do the tracing. The agency hopes to add another 400-500 people from academic institutions, Soto said.

A Second Wave?

"It is likely that we will see a second wave in the fall," state epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Cartter said. "We would all wish that was not the case."

Cartter said by the fall the state will be better prepared for another wave of COVID-19 cases as far as stocking PPE and ventilators.

There may also be anti-viral treatments by then, he said.

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On Tuesday morning, officials from Hartford HealthCare said Connecticut is currently at the top of the peak or plateau for COVID-19 hospitalizations.

"My understanding is we are at the peak at the moment," said Dr. Ajay Kumar, Hartford HealthCare's chief clinical officer.

The state is going to see hospitalizations continue to trend down, however, as more testing is rolled out, we will see an increase in active cases, Kumar said.

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