HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s COVID-19 positivity rate has jumped above one percent. Infectious disease specialists with Hartford Healthcare are attributing this increase in the positivity rate to the delta variant.
Hartford Healthcare Senior System Director of Infection Prevention Dr. Keith Grant says studies show the Delta variant is about 40 percent more contagious than the virus that started the pandemic, according to
“It is more contagious than the prior dominant variant,” Dr. Grant said.
He adds that the dominant variant for new cases in the state of Connecticut is the delta variant.
Some locals a bit concerned, even those who are vaccinated.
“I am concerned about the variant but I mean what can you do it’s—you just have to keep it moving and if we have to get vaccinated or get a booster shot again, I’ll do that too,” said Layla Alvarado, a college student from South Windsor.
Others, like Kim Casey-Cortes who works in corrections, are sticking to what they’ve been doing to stay safe.
“I was the first one to be vaccinated and I test every week and this is probably like 40 tests clean so I just say and do what I need to do and I’m not worried about the delta,” she said.
Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Ulysses Wu said that Connecticut has good vaccination rates that are holding the variant at bay.
“For the hospitalized and the unfortunate deaths that are happening, we can say for certainty that 95 to 99% of those are in unvaccinated people. Now like I said before, you still may get infected but the vaccine is doing its job in turning a potentially deadly disease into a normal disease, i.e. the common cold,” said Dr. Wu.
As Connecticut takes off the masks, Wu said they are starting to see other viruses they would normally see in the winter with symptoms that may mimic the coronavirus.
Here’s how to spot the difference:
“The common cold, typically you don’t have a high fever, typically you don’t have a bad cough or shortness of breath. If you have those, you should consider that you have coronavirus as well as symptoms of loss of taste and smell,” Wu said.
Wu said the vaccine does work against the Delta variant.
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