Case Prevalence Per 10,000, By Town
For the week ending July 15
This week’s prevalence map, which shows the number of COVID-19 cases per 10,000 people in each town, is like looking at a painting of a soothing, placid river while the world outside is swept away by a tsunami. Connecticut is continuing to keep the coronavirus largely under control as cases and deaths explode outside the northeast, and that’s about the most we could ask for right now.
For the past month, Connecticut’s recovery has been on pause. Following the peak in April we saw a dramatic drop in the number of cases. But that downward trend slowed to a halt. While initially a cause for concern that we were about to lose the progress we’d made, this stability is welcome considering conditions elsewhere in the country. The state continues to test high numbers of people, and new cases remain low.
This week’s map does show some slight forward progress. There is now only one town with more than five cases per 10,000 people – Suffield (6.35). Last week there were six towns that had more than five cases per 10,000, and there were 10 the week before that.
There are quite a few towns, ranging from small rural towns like Andover and Colebrook, to populous suburbs like Wethersfield and Branford, that have had no cases at all in the past week. The city of Torrington also had no cases this week, which hasn’t happened since March. Many other towns have only handfuls of cases. Other Connecticut cities, including New Britain, Norwich, Bridgeport, Stamford, and Danbury have had less than two cases per 10,000 people during the past week.
Connecticut has no hotspots, which suggests that testing, contact tracing, and mask-wearing are doing their jobs and community spread is very limited. This is in spite of cases that are undoubtedly coming in from out-of-state.
There are no guarantees this progress will continue, however, as we’ve learned from the horrifying experience of Florida, Texas, Arizona, and so many others. At this point, unless the situation in other states changes dramatically, it would be dangerous to do anything that might upset the fragile stability we now enjoy. The governor should consider postponing the opening of bars indefinitely, and strongly weigh whether opening schools in the fall is worth the risk.
Here is last week’s map for comparison:
Susan Bigelow is an award-winning columnist and the founder of CTLocalPolitics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats.
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