First Death From Coronavirus UK Variant Reported In CT

CONNECTICUT — A person recently died of the United Kingdom coronavirus variant in Connecticut and 15 new cases were reported, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday.

Eighty-one cases of the U.K. variant have now been reported in the state.

"Don't lift your guard," Lamont said during a news conference Monday.

It's a linear — and not an exponential — climb, Lamont said, adding, "it's still something we pay attention to."

The state Department of Public Health said the 15 people who contracted the variant are from these communities:

• Beacon Falls (1)
• Bridgeport (1)
• East Canaan (2)
• Hamden (1)
• Middletown (1)
• New Hartford (1)
• North Haven (1)
• Oxford (1)
• Rocky Hill (1)
• Southington (1)
• Waterbury (3)
• Westbrook (1)

Josh Geballe, the state's chief operating officer, said, "As Dr. Fauci predicted a month or two ago, by mid- to late-March we could expect to see the [U.K.] variant become the predominant strain in the United States, and I think we're on that path right now."

Lamont said he has been watching the progress of the variant in Florida and San Diego, California, over the past few months.

"The vaccine has stayed ahead of the variant, and that's slowing its increase," the governor said.

The health department announced an additional case of the B.1.351 variant of COVID-19, commonly known as the South African variant, was reported. So far two cases of that variant have been reported in the state.

Another 2,066 coronavirus cases and 21 deaths were reported since Friday, according to the health department. The state's death toll stands at 7,725.

Coronavirus hospitalizations dropped by 40 beds over the weekend to 388, the lowest since Nov. 2. That's a good omen with the lifting of many business capacity restrictions set for March 19.

Lamont has used hospitalizations as his key metric for reopening — or in some cases, shutting back down — businesses during the pandemic.

The second metric that has figured prominently is the coronavirus positivity rate. That's still relatively low but edged up slightly to 2.63 percent, according to the health department's latest statistics.

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More positively, 75 percent of the state's population over age 75 have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, along with half of those 55 and over, and just over 25 percent of the population overall. Another 137,000 doses are arriving in the state this week, Lamont said.