The pandemic news over the last 24 hours has had the slightest of silver linings. Hospitalizations are at a manageable level in Fairfield County, but there’s been an uptick in New London County. Fortunately, hospital officials there say they have adequate levels of personal protective equipment and ventilators.
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The “bad” numbers continue to increase, but they’re not increasing as rapidly as they once were. At the national level, the weekly number of new unemployment gains fell from a peak of 6.8 million a month ago, to 3.8 million last week. That’s still 3.2 million more jobs lost than the peak of the Great Recession.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus in Connecticut...
By The Numbers
All numbers are as of April 29 at 6 p.m.
- 2,168 COVID-19-associated deaths
- 26,767 confirmed cases
- Fairfield County: 10,985
- New Haven County: 7,205
- Hartford County: 5,388
- Litchfield County: 919
- Middlesex County: 631
- New London County: 540
- Tolland County: 427
- Windham County: 165
- Pending address validation: 507
- More than 94,818 people tested
The Latest
- Rep. Jahana Hayes is quarantining for at least the next 14 days after her husband, a first responder in Waterbury, tested positive for COVID-19. He has been asymptomatic and the Democrat from Connecticut’s 5th District tested negative. This week, House Democratic leadership cancelled plans to return to Washington on May 4. Meanwhile, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi spoke out about his own battle with the coronavirus during a press conference with Gov. Ned Lamont. Marconi, a Republican, said reopening the state too soon, “would be perhaps the worst single thing we could do right now.”
- Roughly 1 out of 5 people who had a job in February are now unemployed, according to NPR. The U.S. Department of Labor released its weekly unemployment statistics this morning and an additional 3.8 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. In Connecticut, 33,037 people filed last week, down from 102,808 the week before, according to the Department of Labor statistics. Here’s a graph from NPR to put the last six weeks into perspective.
- Hartford residents who do not have access to a vehicle can have a mobile testing site come to them. Hartford HealthCare launched its mobile testing unit yesterday. This comes after criticism that people without cars couldn’t get tested at the drive-up sites. Additionally, the city of Hartford has established a ride service for testing at Charter Oak Health Center. The mobile program started at The Open Hearth in Hartford’s South End yesterday. Marilyn Rossetti, the shelter’s executive director said this should have happened more quickly. “A city with a lot of people of color and a lot of people without access to vehicles, we probably should’ve been doing things better, faster, sooner … there were a lot of moving parts that went into today,” she said.
Other Reads On The Coronavirus
- Antiviral Drug Remdesivir Shows Promise For Treating Coronavirus In NIH Study - Laurel Wamsley and Carmel Wroth for NPR
- The iconic brands that could disappear because of coronavirus - Daniela Santamariña, Abha Bhattarai and Kevin Uhrmacher for The Washington Post
- The coronavirus has already flattened one thing — the line between work and family - Mary McNamara for The Los Angeles Times
Dr. Seuss Meets Dr. Dre
We’ve heard how Shakespeare and Newton were productive during past quarantines. Here’s the 2020 version of that. YouTuber Wes Tank raps Fox In Socks over beats by Dr. Dre. (h/t Meg Fitzgerald for sharing this)
It’s not King Lear, but it’ll do for today.
Stay safe. Stay sane. Stay distant.
