While Connecticut's COVID-19 rates remain low compared to national hotspots like Florida, Hartford County has joined New Haven County at the CDC's "high transmission" level (100 or more cases per 100,000 residents).
While the City of Hartford hasn't issued a mask mandate yet, a mandate takes effect in the City of New Haven on Monday.
"We've had a mask mandate within municipal buildings ever since basically COVID started," says New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. "We'll be expanding that to places where people are likely to potentially expose other people to COVID."
The mayor's order covers "all establishments--such as bars, restaurants, theaters and office buildings--regardless of people's vaccination status."
While holding off on a similar mandate for Hartford, Mayor Luke Bronin says, "Regardless of what category we're in, at this point everyone should wear a mask indoors when they're around other people." He's urging those who haven't been vaccinated to get their shots this weekend.
On Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order allowing cities and towns to impose their own measures to mitigate the pandemic.
Friday, Connecticut reported a 24-hour COVID positive test rate of 3.5%, the highest in four months. That brings the 7-day rolling average to a little more than 3%. The U.S. positive rate has reached 11%, the highest since January. Florida, which broke its single-day record for new cases on Friday with 22,783, has a positive rate of more than 15%, according the Mayo Clinic.