There are not a lot of good numbers surrounding the pandemic. Another 3.2 million Americans lost their jobs last week. The number of deaths and cases continue to rise in Connecticut, although the number of hospitalizations dropped again after ticking up on Tuesday.
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As the state looks at reopening, a new analysis shows that Connecticut isn’t even close to testing enough people. There’s more on that analysis below.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus in Connecticut...
By The Numbers
All numbers are as of May 6 at 7:30 p.m.
- 2,718 COVID-19-associated deaths
- 30,995 confirmed cases
- Fairfield County: 12,455
- New Haven County: 8,419
- Hartford County: 6,530
- Litchfield County: 1,085
- Middlesex County: 742
- New London County: 704
- Tolland County: 513
- Windham County: 242
- Pending address validation: 305
- More than 111,447 people tested
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The Latest
- Connecticut will reopen state colleges and universities in phases, officials said yesterday. Administrative functions and research programs can resume on May 20, followed by lab, studio, clinical or shop courses for students graduating this spring. The target date for undergraduate residential programs is September 1. Officials anticipate a mix of in-person and online courses.
- The target date to start reopening Connecticut is still May 20. But a new analysis says the state must do much more testing in order to contain the outbreak. NPR used estimates from Harvard’s Global Health Institute to determine how each state is doing with testing. It says Connecticut should be conducting more than 29,000 tests per day by May 15. The state is averaging just 2,376 tests per day right now. Of the current tests being conducted, more than 25% came back positive. The World Health Organization recommends the percentage of positive tests should be no higher than 10%.
- Most Connecticut residents are in no rush to reopen the state, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University. The poll found that 71% of respondents say the priority should be on slowing the spread of the virus, even if it hurts the economy. Residents largely support Gov. Ned Lamont’s handling of the pandemic, with a 78% approval rating on the issue. His overall approval rating is at 65%.
Other Reads On The Coronavirus
- A Few Schools Reopen, But Remote Learning Could Go On For Years In U.S. - Anya Kamenetz for NPR
- We Got Swabbed In Day Street Park - Thomas Breen for The New Haven Independent
- Axl Rose, Steven Mnuchin and the pandemic Twitter feud no one saw coming - Allyson Chiu for The Washington Post
Music For Kids, Without The Education
I’ve shared several Sesame Street videos in this section before. The reason that show is lauded by many is that it’s educational for kids.
So here’s something completely different. This band, Go Banana Go!, was featured on Morning Edition today. Two accomplished musicians teamed up to make silly songs for kids, something that may help those kids (and their parents) during quarantine.
"Sometimes you're like, let's just get weird and let kids let their imaginations go wild," said Jim Roach. "We were like, let's be the left-of-center kids' band where there's no lessons, there's no pretext — let's just have super-silly fun.”
Here’s one of those songs, featuring Flula Borg, an actor who I became acquainted with on Conan O’Brien’s show.
Stay safe. Stay sane. Stay distant.
