DANBURY, Conn. — The Connecticut Department of Health issued a COVID-19 alert for the city of Danbury Friday. The DPH said the city has had a significant increase in cases in the last two weeks, with much of the outbreak having to do with recent domestic and international travel.
The city of Danbury saw an increase of 44 new cases Friday and no new COVID-19 related deaths. The DPH reports that between August 2-20, the city recorded 178 new COVID-19 cases. The previous two-week period only saw 40 new cases.
“This is a serious outbreak in Danbury and we really need an all hands on deck approach. We need everyone in Danbury to take extreme precaution,” said Acting DPH Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford, MD MPH. “We appreciate the partnership with municipal and health department leadership in Danbury, as well as health care providers that have testing sites available for members of the community. We are urging anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to get tested as soon as possible, stay home until your test results are known and stay at home for 10 days if you test positive.”
Commissioner Gifford continued, “We need you to answer your phone if a contact tracer tries to get in touch. If you are over the age of 60 or have a chronic disease and live in Danbury, you should stay home. We need employers to help make sure everyone with symptoms or who was exposed is staying home and not coming to work. Friends and neighbors could help by supporting those who need to stay home with food and other errands. We can limit the spread of the virus if we all work together.”
The DPH is urging Danbury residents to stay home is possible, to avoid unnecessary outings, limit indoor gatherings to only the people you live with, and to refrain from attending large church services or outdoor gatherings.
Governor Ned Lamont tweeted a statement regarding the alert for Danbury and urged anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to COVID-19, to get tested ASAP.