CONNECTICUT, USA — As Connecticut moves into phase two of reopening, data from the Department of Public Health (DPH) is showing some positive signs.
In total there have been 45,440 Coronavirus cases (presumed and confirmed) in Connecticut. The state added 81 cases Thursday. DPH also removed 70 cases from the total due to "correction of data errors."
The current daily average for the past 14 days sits at just under 170 new cases per day. At Connecticut's peak in April that 14-day average was around 1,000 new cases a day.
The hospitalization curve
Connecticut is 57 days past its peak number of hospitalizations. Public health officials reported there were 176 people in Connecticut hospitals Thursday, down from 1,972 on April 22.
The governor and his reopening committee have pointed to total hospitalizations as the key metric because it represents the number of people sick enough to need to be in the hospital.
For example, the administration has shied away from total number of new cases because Increased testing could lead to a higher number of positive cases, when those cases may be people who are asymptomatic and not needing treatment.
Connecticut Coronavirus Deaths
DPH reported seven new deaths COVID-19-related deaths Thursday. The agency has blamed coronavirus for the deaths of 4,226 people in Connecticut so far.
The dotted line on the graph above shows where the 7-day moving average is. That moving average has dropped from about 110 deaths per day in April to about 60 deaths per day now.
The two big spikes in April include deaths that had gone previously unreported.
Testing
Connecticut has made some strides in increasing COVID-19 testing. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 370,638 coronavirus tests have been completed in Connecticut. Right now Connecticut is averaging 7,000 tests completed per day. At the beginning of April the average was just below 2,000 tests per day.
