Daily coronavirus updates: Delta variant now makes up 80% of Connecticut’s COVID-19 cases, public health commissioner says

The Delta variant now makes up about 80% of Connecticut’s COVID-19 cases, acting public health commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford said, as the state continues to see an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.

The new Delta variant estimate, which comes from researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, is up from 14% in late June and up from 64% in a report released last week. Gifford noted that there is typically a lag between when a sample is collected and when it is sequenced and reported, meaning the Delta variant has likely been dominant in Connecticut longer than those numbers indicate.

As the Delta variant has taken hold in Connecticut in recent weeks, the state has seen a fourfold increase in its positivity rate and a threefold increase in its total number of cases. Hospitalizations have increased as well, though they remain far lower than at other times during the pandemic.

“This is where people like me start getting concerned about where we are heading,” Dr. Ajay Kumar, Hartford HealthCare’s chief clinical officer, said Thursday.

The Delta variant, which is more contagious than other COVID-19 strains, has been blamed for coronavirus surges worldwide, including in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this week that the variant now accounts for about 83% of cases nationwide.

Experts say vaccinated people may face higher risk of infection due to the Delta variant, as compared to previous variants, but that they are unlikely to experience severe illness. In Connecticut, most people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, hospital officials say.

“Because [the Delta variant] is highly transmissible, the best defense we have is to continue to get vaccinated,” Kumar said. “so at least if you get the infection or you get exposed to someone who has COVID, you’re not getting as sick and requiring the ICU or hospitalization.”

Gov. Ned Lamont reported 295 new COVID-19 cases Thursday out of 13,270 tests, for a positivity rate of 2.2%. The state’s seven-day positivity rate now stands at 1.8%, highest since May 10.

As of Thursday, Connecticut has 66 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, up six from Wednesday and up from 25 at one point earlier this month.

Despite the recent uptick, Lamont has avoided sounding any alarms, noting that Connecticut compares favorably to other states and that the current spike is, at least so far, nowhere near as severe as the one last fall.

“We’ve gone from half a percent to two percent over the last few weeks and we’re still one of the lowest in the country when it comes to infection,” the governor said Wednesday. “We’re still sending many, many fewer folks to hospitals than we certainly were six months ago.”

The state on Thursday reported four coronavirus-linked deaths over the past week, bringing its total to 8,286 during the pandemic. Officials announced earlier this month they would announce COVID-19 deaths only on Thursdays.

The United States has now recorded 609,999 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.

As of Thursday, 69% of all Connecticut residents and 79% of those 12 and older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 63% of all residents and 72% of those 12 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.

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