Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday that Connecticut is one of the five states with the lowest COVID-19 infection rates in the United States.
The state's positivity rate decreased to 13.29% and hospitalizations continue to go down, as well.
With a decline of 72, there are now 1,733 total hospitalizations. This is the lowest the state has seen in a few weeks, according to the governor.
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There was a high number of deaths over the last week, Lamont said. A total of 241 people died of COVID-19. Most of these people were not vaccinated.
The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate on Wednesday was 16.55%, a decrease from 18.44% on Tuesday.
COVID-19 in Nursing Homes
During a news conference Thursday, the governor reiterated that all nursing home staff must be vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.
Nursing home staff is only about 33% boosted at this point.
The state of Connecticut has asked nursing homes if they have extra beds to take care of someone in the last stages of the virus who needs to be in isolation.
State officials said they're getting COVID-19 tests out to nursing homes for this new vaccine mandate order.
A total of 92% of nursing home residents are fully vaccinated. In addition, 77% of residents have received their booster shot.
COVID-19 Testing
The governor said that over 3.1 million at-home rapid tests have been distributed, mostly to schools. Another 500,000 are going out Friday.
Tests are available again at pharmacies and over 400 testing sites statewide, according to Lamont. Most insurance companies will cover the cost of eight tests per person per month, the governor said.
People can have COVID-19 tests delivered to their home by clicking here.
According to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the omicron variant could be the last wave and it might be the dominant strain moving forward.
He said we're heading toward endemic status later this year.
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