On one of the nicest days of the year, Connecticut residents enjoyed the great outdoors, but got a pointed reminder from state officials they should keep taking measures to beat back the pandemic.
The state DPH issued this statement Saturday afternoon:
"The State Department of Public Health is reminding residents to remain vigilant against COVID-19 as case rates have risen over the last two weeks. DPH has moved several Connecticut towns that had been seeing falling or stable COVID-19 case rates back into Red Alert status, as the average daily case rate for COVID-19 has increased statewide to 25 cases/100,000 residents per day. Over 90% of the Connecticut population lives in a town with an average daily case rate of over 15 cases per 100,000 residents (e.g. red alert towns). It is estimated that 40% of these new cases are the B.1.1.7 variant."
"We really thought it was a good time, with the weather getting warmer and our vaccine program going well, to remind people that we are still seeing lots of COVID here in Connecticut," explains acting DPH Commissioner Dr. Deirdre Gifford. "In particular, we have seen our rates go up in almost all age groups over the last few weeks, so we felt it was important to let the public know we're in good shape to get everyone vaccinated but we have a few more weeks to go before it's time to let down your guard."
Fueled by variants of the virus, other countries are in various stages of lockdown, including the Philippines, which has announced a two-week hard lockdown, even banning religious gatherings for Easter weekend. But Dr. Gifford says Saturday's announcement by the Connecticut DPH does not indicate an upcoming interruption of the state's reopening:
"We're not anywhere close to talking about a lockdown... We're seeing a slight increase in cases, but we had been dropping and leveling off, so it is concerning."
As for Connecticut's day in the sun, Gifford says, "It's actually terrific that people are getting outside, we certainly encourage that. And, when you do go out, make sure to take the mask and if you're indoors, keep up the mask and the social distancing."