Derby’s COVID-19 Per Capita Rate Remains Highest In Connecticut

It’s called COVID-19 because it is a coronavirus first detected in 2019.

DERBY — For the second week in a row, Connecticut’s smallest city has the highest per capita COVID-19 rate in the state. Derby’s latest number is the highest rate the city has experienced since the state started publishing ​“hot spot” maps in October. (FYI: April 8 report available here)

Conversely, Derby has the highest vaccination rate in the Naugatuck Valley.

Residents are advised to continue following COVID-19 protocols, such as wearing masks, washing hands, and getting vaccinated. Scheduling a vaccination at the moment can be difficult since the state just opened it up to everyone 16 and up. Click here for a list of options to make an appointment.

The infection rates should fall as more people get vaccinated.

Scroll down to see the percentage of people vaccinated in each Naugatuck Valley community.

Between March 14 and March 27, Derby had 115 positive COVID-19 test results, which translates into a per capita rate of 65.6. That’s up from last week’s report, when Derby’s rate was 48.5 (with 85 cases), according to data released from the state.

Epidemiologists and statisticians look at per capita rates as a way to compare populations of different sizes.

Here is the formula the experts use:

Take the 115 cases reported in the period and divide by 14 days.
That gives you roughly 8 cases a day.
Divide 8 by 12,515 (Derby’s population).
Multiply that answer by 100,000.
You should get 65.6, the per capita rate.

Derby’s latest rate is the highest per capita rate the city has seen since the state started releasing COVID-19 ​“hot spot” maps in October 2020. The city’s rate was at 61.1 just before Christmas. According to the state, 1,417 Derby residents were tested for COVID-19 between March 14 and March 27. The positivity rate was 9.2 percent.

A two-week daily rate of 15 cases or more per 100,000 places a community in the ​“red zone” on the state’s COVID-19 map. All but 23 towns are still in that zone.

Andrew Baklik, Mayor Rich Dziekan’s chief of staff, told The Valley Indy last week that Derby’s new cases seem to be driven by young people.

Derby’s schools have experienced a spike in cases. The district has a live dashboard on its website. It is more current than the information released by the state. Click here to read it.

As of Friday (April 2), the Derby dashboard shows 22 positive COVID-19 tests among students over two weeks, with 194 students in quarantine. It’s safe to presume COVID-19 is circulating within the families of those students. Health officials are not responsive to Valley Indy questions.

Ansonia’s per capita rate as of April 1 was 53, with 139 new cases. Ansonia’s per capita rate also increased from the previous report, according to the data released Thursday. Last week the city’s rate was 41.2 with 108 cases.

Here are the per capita rates in other Naugatuck Valley communities:

Waterbury: 62.1
Seymour: 51.9
Naugatuck: 41.8
Beacon Falls: 38.1
Shelton: 33.5
Oxford 31.9

Here are the latest vaccination rates in the Naugatuck Valley:

Derby: 53.5 percent
Oxford 38.5 percent
Shelton: 37 percent
Beacon Falls: 36.6 percent
Seymour: 32 percent
Naugatuck: 27 percent
Ansonia: 25 percent of the population
Waterbury: 21 percent

According to state data, three Oxford residents and three Seymour residents died from COVID-19 between March 1 and April 1. Two people died in Ansonia, along with one person each in Derby, Naugatuck and Shelton.

The Bigger Picture

Gov. Ned Lamont’s latest COVID-19 news briefing (from Thursday, April 1) is embedded in its entirety below.

Here are links to news stories covering the latest statewide news regarding the novel coronavirus, first officially detected in Connecticut in March 2020.

COVID-19 cases jump, but not hospitalizations or deaths

Hospitalizations down, positivity rate up

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