CT Coronavirus: As Infections Drop, Variant Cases Climb

CONNECTICUT —The number of coronavirus variant cases in the state has climbed by 328, according to the latest data released by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. These include eight cases of a new variant, B.1.617.2, first detected in India, reported in Connecticut for the first time.

The rate of growth for the variants is comparable to what it was last week. All the variants identified in Connecticut are treatable by the three vaccines available to residents, and about 75 percent of the eligible state population has already received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Variants of the coronavirus are watched carefully by health officials as they can be more contagious, more resistant to vaccines, or even more deadly. New coronavirus variants have been at the heart of COVID-19 surges throughout the world, most notably in the U.K.

The overall COVID-19 positivity rate is as low as it has been since October, at 0.76 percent. An additional 204 cases of the coronavirus were reported Thursday in the state, bringing that total to 347,341. The DPH reported that 26,728 residents were more were tested for the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified three types of coronavirus variants: variants of interest, variants of concern and variants of high consequence. The CDC has also recently introduced a new category, "substitutions of therapeutic concern," which can be found across all variants, and may be more resilient against certain man-made antibodies.

Among the variants of interest currently found in Connecticut, variant P.2 has held steady for eight weeks at seven cases. The variant B.1.525, which first detected in Africa and Europe, went up two cases, to 19. Cases of the variant of interest B.1.526 climbed 55 cases, from 852 to 907. Instances of B.1.526.1 climbed from 202 to 217. Both of those variants were first detected in New York.

Among the state's variants of concern, B.1.1.7 ("U.K.") is up from 2,765 to 2,892 cases. Variant B.1.427 climbed from 62 to 64, and B.1.429 climbed two cases, from 144 to 146; both of these were first detected in California. Variant P.1, first detected in Brazil, climbed 11 cases, from 93 to 104 cases. Cases of the variant first detected in South Africa, B.1.351 held climbed four cases to 32, after holding steady for two weeks.

One substitution of therapeutic concern, E484K, was found in 925 variant cases, up from 854 last week. The other, L452R, was detected in 461 cases, up from 436 cases previously.

The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital beds fell overnight by 13. That brings the number of those hospitalized with the coronavirus in Connecticut to 110.

Coronavirus-associated deaths across the state rose by eight in the data reported Friday. The COVID-19 death toll in Connecticut now stands at 8,238.

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