Connecticut coronavirus cases spike, governor calls it a hot spot
A total of 64 percent of the people tested for the novel coronavirus in Connecticut in the past 24 hours came back positive, a spike that underscored the state's status as a hot spot for the disease, Governor Ned Lamont said on Friday. Of the 1,715 Connecticut residents screened for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, 1,090 tested positive, according to state data. A day earlier the percentage of positives was 16 percent.
While cautioning that the "numbers are bouncing around" on a daily basis, Lamont said that Connecticut deserved greater attention from the federal government, especially given the large number of cases in Fairfield County, a commuter hub to New York City, the outbreak's epicenter in the United States. On Thursday, Deborah Birx, a member of U.S. President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, said Connecticut could become one of the next hot spots for COVID-19, along with Michigan, Indiana, Georgia and Illinois.
"We've been trying to explain to Washington for some time that southern Connecticut is one of those hot spots," Lamont said at a daily briefing on the coronavirus. The data released on Friday showed the number of cases increased by 1,090 from a day earlier to a total of 4,914, with 19 additional deaths for a total of 131. More than half of the deaths are in Fairfield County.
Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in a separate browser for a GRAPHIC on coronavirus cases in the United States. Lamont predicted that the peak for hospitalizations would hit Fairfield County in two-and-half to three weeks, stretching the already strained hospitals in the area.
He said he believed Connecticut could meet the projected peak need for 12,000 hospital beds to treat COVID-patients but was less confident about ventilators, the breathing machines which are critical to keeping patients alive. Connecticut has a little over 1,000 ventilators, but may need 4,000, Lamont predicted. He said his team was "scouring the globe" in search of the machines, while also talking to a manufacturer in the state about boosting supply.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ALSO READ
Japan is giving Washington 250 new cherry trees to replace those to be lost in construction work
Foreign Secy Vinay Kwatra bolsters India-US relations on Washington visit
Defense relationship part of US-Iraq talks in Washington next week, US official says
Kishida delights Washington with promise of 250 cherry trees as independence gift
Biden returns to Washington as Iran launches attack on Israel