Lamont Confident CT Can Control Coronavirus Flare-Ups Come Fall

DANBURY, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont said that Danbury’s coronavirus spike and the state’s handling of getting it under control quickly could serve as a model of how Connecticut could manage viral flare-ups going into the fall.

The state Department of Public Health issued a “COVID-19 alert” for the city Aug. 21 after the city recorded at least 178 new cases between Aug. 2 and 20. The city’s positive test rate spiked above 7 percent, but it has since dropped to around 3.4 percent, Lamont said. Connecticut’s most recent batch of testing reports had a positive rate of about .8 percent.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton shut down fall youth sports and the school system announced it would reopen under a full remote learning model until at least October.

Lamont said he is confident Connecticut can avoid the large statewide economic shutdowns that occurred in the early days of the pandemic when testing capacity was extremely limited and personal protective equipment was scarce.

Connecticut could only test around 20 people per day for the virus in the early weeks of the pandemic; it now has capacity to test 100,000 or more per week. State officials were scouring the globe for PPE around the same time too as global demand surged, but now Connecticut has more than a three-month supply.

“I think that gives you the idea that we now have a lot more capacity and I think we will now be able to deal with individual flare-ups just the way we dealt with Danbury over the last week,” Lamont said.

Proactive testing of asymptomatic people allowed officials to catch Danbury’s spike quickly as well as a spike at the Three Rivers nursing home in Norwich and another outbreak in East Windsor, state COO Josh Geballe said.

“Those were all caught relatively quickly relatively early because of the ample testing we have in place,” Geballe said.

Connecticut has proactive testing in place for people living in congregate settings such as prisons and nursing homes as well as those who work in them. Connecticut will continue its robust asymptomatic testing approach despite changing guidance from Washington, Geballe said.

The Three Rivers nursing home had an outbreak of 21 cases among residents and five staff members. Three residents who tested positive have died and one is currently hospitalized. DPH officials have found severe infection control deficiencies at the home, which will result in federal enforcement action, according to a DPH statement.

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