Connecticut's overall COVID-19 numbers remain stable, and the governor is confident the vaccination rate will continue to surge, but two more-transmissible strains of the virus are on the rise. Statistics released Friday afternoon by the governor's office show 93 new cases of the "UK variant," for a total of 174 known cases. There are 6 cases of the "South Africa variant."
Doctors say the variants are something to monitor closely. A study published this week in the British Medical Journal shows the UK variant to be more deadly than the strain that's swept through the U.S. and the world over the last year. It cites "an increase in deaths from 2.5 to 4.1 per 1000 detected cases."
The state's daily positive test rate is 2.5%, which is roughly equal to the 7-day running average. 381 COVID patients remain hospitalized. 4 more people died, bringing the state's COVID death toll to 7,765.
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Gov. Ned Lamont says Connecticut should be able to ace President Joe Biden's challenge to governors: ensuring every U.S. adult becomes eligible for vaccination by May 1st. The state currently plans to make all residents 16 and older eligible May 3rd, but the governor now says that date could move up.
"Right now, we had planned May 3rd. We're going to be able to accelerate that," Lamont told reporters at an event in Danbury. "We're getting more people vaccinated faster, and more vaccines coming from Washington, DC than we had anticipated. So I appreciate the president's challenge of May 1. We're going to beat it."
About 30% of all Connecticut residents 16 and older have received at least one shot. More than 1.25 million doses have been injected.
