The latest COVID-19 map from the state.
Every town and city in the lower Naugatuck Valley is now categorized as a COVID-19 “red alert” zone, according to data released from the state Department of Health Thursday.
Communities are designated as hot spots when the average daily rate of new cases of COVID-19 over two weeks reaches at least 15 cases per day 100,000 people.
Here are the latest numbers (the time period for the rates below cover Oct. 25 to Nov. 7. The data was released Nov. 12):
Ansonia
36.2 on Nov. 12
95 cases in period reported
Per capita rate was 27.1 on Nov. 5 and 19.5 on Oct. 29
Beacon Falls
24.3
21 cases reported
Rate was 8.1 on Nov. 5
Derby
34.2
57 cases in period reported
Rate as 17.1 on Nov. 5 and 12.6 on Oct. 29
Naugatuck
34.2
150 cases
Rate was 19.2 on Nov. 5
Oxford
15.7
29 cases
Rate was 10.3 on Nov. 5
Seymour
32
74 cases in period reported
Rate was 17.7 on Nov. 5 and 14.3 on Oct. 29
Shelton
26.4
152 cases in period reported
Rate was 15.5 on Nov. 5
Impact
Connecticut is in a second wave of COVID-19. At a press conference Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont said 100 communities (home to 80 percent of the state’s population) are now on red alert.
The red alert list is updated every week. The first week it was 11 towns, then 30, then 68, now 100.
The governor’s press conference is embedded below. The article continues after the video.
The metrics are not as bad as they were in the spring when the virus was first detected in the state. Connecticut is in much better shape than other parts of the country. But the infection rate and hospitalizations are on the rise, nonetheless. The numbers of positive tests are not going up just because lots of people are getting tested in Connecticut, according to multiple statements made in recent weeks by state health officials.
While schools are not thought to be a major spreader of COVID-19, state education and health officials recommend schools take a hard look at full-time distance learning when the daily positivity two-week rate per capita rate hits 25 cases per day.
On Thursday, Ansonia Public Schools announced education would be switching to remote learning as of the end of the day Friday, Nov. 13.
Ansonia schools will be online until Jan. 18, according to a letter from the school superintendent.
Click here for The Valley Indy story.
At a public meeting Wednesday, Schools Superintendent Joseph DiBacco and Dr. Domenic Casablanca, the district’s medical advisor, spoke about the relatively high infection rate in the greater Ansonia community — and about how COVID school closures in other communities affected the school district’s staffing levels. Click here for The Valley Indy story.
Click the play button below to hear district leaders talk about the COVID-19 situation (from Wednesday night):
Meanwhile, Ansonia City Hall remains closed after two recently reported cases within the building (an employee and an election worker). Contact tracing took place. The building has been cleaned and could open again Monday (Nov. 16).
Derby City Hall closed early Thursday after an employee came to work displaying cold-like symptoms. The employee is awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test and the building was scheduled to be cleaned. The building is scheduled to operate under normal hours Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Seymour Public Schools canceled in-person classes in a letter dated Nov. 7. Superintendent Michael Wilson noted the school district had received reports of 10 new cases within the school district between Nov. 5 and Nov. 7. In-person hybrid classes could resume Nov. 30.
In his letter, Wilson also noted the number of quarantines required was having a serious impact on school district staffing.
What the colors mean. Please not that all towns are now in the state’s “phase 2.1.”
