HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gov. Ned Lamont's office added 25 more people to Connecticut's COVID-19 death toll on Thursday, the largest weekly rise in pandemic-related deaths since mid-May.
The state in early July switched from reporting COVID-19 deaths on a daily basis to sending out weekly numbers. But an analysis of data by The Associated Press shows the state has not reported 25 deaths during a Friday to Thursday period since recording 40 between May 14 and May 20. There were 22 deaths reported the following week.
The state added 23 deaths to its list last Thursday. The latest deaths bring the state's total during the pandemic to 8,355, according to the governor's office.
The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Connecticut has risen over the past two weeks from 0.71 deaths per day on Aug. 10 to five deaths per day on Aug. 24, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The state Department of Public Health also released it weekly COVID-19 Alert Map, showing that 92 municipalities are now in what the state considers its “red zone," indicating they have had infection rates of great than 15 per 100,000 people over the past two weeks. That is up from 73 “red zone” towns a week ago.
There have been 788 new COVID-19 cases reported since Wednesday and two people were added to the number of those hospitalized with the coronavirus, bringing that total to 380.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases in Connecticut has risen from 550.14 per day on Aug. 10 to 605.86 on Aug. 24, according to Johns Hopkins.
