Case Prevalence Per 10,000, By Town
For the week ending September 23
So a lot is going on right now, I know. But statistics from the week ending Sept. 23 underscore the point that we can’t allow ourselves to become numb to, or be lackadaisical about, the pandemic. It’s still here, it’s still dangerous, and it’s still just as contagious as ever.
That said, there’s some good news this week. A second spike is absolutely not happening right now, and while back to school has been difficult at best, it hasn’t yet resulted in the kind of major outbreak across the state that we saw in April.
COVID-19 cases and case prevalence actually fell a bit in the state from last week, from 1,294 from Sept. 9 through Sept. 16 down to 1,199 from Sept. 16 through Sept. 23. In terms of case prevalence, which measures the number of positive cases per 10,000 residents, the state declined from 3.61 to 3.36.
Some of the most prominent hotspots, such as one in Mansfield on the University of Connecticut campus and a longstanding hotspot in Danbury, have faded somewhat. Mansfield’s cases drop from 68 to 23, and case prevalence dropped from 26.34 to 8.91 cases per 10,000 residents. Danbury’s cases dropped from 131 to 92, and their case prevalence dropped from 15.46 to 10.86.
That said, on-campus cases at UConn and Central Connecticut State University in New Britain continue to be a problem. And the president of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield threatened students that the semester would go online-only if they didn’t start taking the pandemic more seriously.
Other hotspots around the state include one in Norwich, where an outbreak at a nursing home in that city led to the state closing the nursing home and relocating patients elsewhere. Norwich had 49 cases this past week, which is a case prevalence of 12.52.
Norwich is one of a handful of eastern Connecticut towns with a relatively high case prevalence. Others include Windham (34 cases, 13.76 cases per 10,000), Brooklyn (10 cases, 12.08 cases per 10,000), Preston (5 cases, 10.78 cases per 10,000), and Colchester (16 cases, 10.04 cases per 10,000).
Two Connecticut cities are consistently posting low numbers of cases and low case prevalence. Middletown had only 7 cases last week, which works out to a case prevalence of 1.52 cases per 10,000, while New Haven saw 17 cases for a case prevalence of 1.30. Both cities routinely have under 2 cases per 10,000 residents.
Connecticut is still battling the virus, and keeping students and nursing home residents safe will continue to be major challenges in the months ahead. But if we all continue to take the virus seriously and take reasonable precautions like masks and social distancing, we can and will avoid a repeat of the nightmare of the early spring.
Here is last week’s map for comparison purposes.
Case Prevalence Per 10,000, By Town
For the week ending September 16
