May 22, 2021 COVID Update

It’s about time for an uplifting Covid-19 announcement. A year ago, there were about 2,000 Covid patients hospitalized in Connecticut, we worried about overloading the medical system. After a difficult month, month and a half the weather warmed, we got outside more and the daily case count dropped dramatically. It stayed low through the summer. The fall brought a second wave with much higher daily case counts than the first wave but fewer deaths. We’ve learned how to better treat the disease. In December the vaccines arrived and the cases began to drop. Today 50% of Connecticut’s population is fully vaccinated, another 10% have gotten their first shot. (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html). There are only 141 Covid patients in Connecticut hospitals. Masks are no longer required, with some exceptions, for fully vaccinated individuals. (I’d suggest a mask burning party but the fire danger is high in the spring.) The New York Times published an article today titled “The pandemic may now be in permanent retreat in the U.S.” which included this graph:

Cases in town are declining as well. We’ve come a long way. The pandemic isn’t over, the variants may present a problem but the future is certainly brighter than it was a year ago.