New London County is now being classified as an area of "high" COVID-19 transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is the third county in the state to be upgraded to the highest transmission category - which is 100 or more cases per 100,000 people, or a positivity rate of 10% or higher over the last seven days.
The state's overall positivity rate came in at 2.84% Tuesday, with 275 new cases identified out of 9,637 tests reported. There are 219 people currently hospitalized with the virus, a net increase of 11 from the day before.
The state Department of Public Health is strongly recommending that all Connecticut residents over the age of 2 wear a mask while in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. They also advise that high-risk individuals avoid large indoor gatherings that may include a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
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State officials continue to urge the public to get a COVID-19 vaccine if they have not already done so to stop the ongoing spread of the delta variant.
Many towns and cities are requiring face masks in municipal buildings and some are weighing universal masking mandates for all public indoor spaces. Hartford, New Haven and Stamford have been some of the first to implement mask mandates.
