OLD LYME — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Old Lyme has increased by five to 58 according to state numbers released for Friday, Nov.13.
Lyme numbers remain at 12 confirmed cases and an additional probable one.
These numbers were released after the Ledge Light Health Department and state reports that we quoted Friday.
Thomas D. Gotowka says
Unfortunately, once we leave t he relatively friendly confines of the Lymes, the increasing intensity of this COVID “scourge” becomes very apparent.
It is worthwhile to review some key metrics at the state – and national – levels. My data are a few days old, but the data granules are less important than the trends that are playing out.
CT just set a record for most cases recorded in a single day, and the state’s positivity rate spiked once again, increasing to 6.4 percent; bringing CT’s seven-day positivity rate to 4.9%. This is the highest rolling seven-day average since the beginning of June.
CT now has 659 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the most at any time since the end of May. There were eleven more COVID – linked deaths this past week bringing the total to 4,737.
Yesterday, there were 166,842 confirmed new COVID cases in the United States, the largest daily increase ever. The United States has reached 243,044 COVID-related dead Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University. I’m still waiting for a view of the same corner made famous by POTUS.
According to the Washington Post, COVID is virtually unabated in the upper Midwest, “with a catastrophic lack of hospital beds”. Over the past week, North and South Dakota have led the Nation in new cases and deaths per capita. I’ve said this before, but COVID cases are surging in such states, where personal choice regarding simple recommended public health behaviors is valued more than reducing the rate of disease transmission. South Dakota just reported a 68.1percent positivity rate in nearly 3000 people who were tested for the first time.
We are hearing good news about vaccine development, and initiating vaccination of the population, perhaps as early as April, will finally signal the “beginning of the end” of the pandemic, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. This will be a very long and very arduous public health endeavor.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner who has advised CT’s Governor during the pandemic, said that “he expects a spike in COVID-19 cases in the days after Thanksgiving because people will have come together and will have spread the infection in small groups”.
To avoid that, families should consider “alternative” Thanksgiving plans; and out-of-state travelers should quarantine before or after arrival in Connecticut. We are certainly going to hear more about recommended “alternative” plans.
Margaret Lent says
I would like to know why we do not get to know if there has been any confirmed cases in any of the schools in the district. I am not saying names, grades, or even specific schools but just whether there has been or is currently any cases among students or staff in the district. As a parent it would be good to know this information.
Beth says
Thank you for extra reporting Our community needs to know!
Ryan says
I guess it’s time to just assume everyone has the CHINA VIRUS. I have been there in my own head for a few weeks to a month now. My contact w people other than my parents is so limited I feel really lucky. I can’t imagine how people who work at Big Y in town feel. With the numbers going up in all states and especially in the towns tward the east and on to R.I. that have been on RED ALERT for a month if not longer. I mean I think I’d be so scared having to go to work and be around people one of which could so definitely be caring the C.V. would be so nerve-wracking. We should definitely tip the people at the grocery store and TIP THEM WELL. Would you do that job now and have done it, and kept doing it with a smile on your face till now when it really hits the fan. Now we all wanna duck and run and they of all people cant. Big up to them