Connecticut DPH Issues Health Alert For Middlesex County Recommends Wearing Masks When in Indoor Spaces

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 1, 2021

CONTACT:     Chris Boyle, Director of Communications

                        (860) 706-9654 – christopher.boyle@ct.gov

Connecticut Department of Public Health Issues Health Alert

For Middlesex County, Recommends Wearing Masks When in Indoor Spaces

HARTFORD, Conn. – Given the rapid increases in cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut over the last 14 days due to the spread of the Delta variant, the Connecticut Department of Public Health is strongly recommending that ALL CONNECTICUT residents over aged two years, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, return to wearing masks when in indoor public spaces.

Middlesex county has joined six other Connecticut counties in being classified by the CDC as having “Substantial Transmission” of COVID-19.  CDC classifies counties with greater than 50 COVID cases per hundred thousand residents over seven days as “Substantial.”  While Litchfield county does not currently meet the threshold, the likelihood is high that they will soon meet the threshold, and therefore universal masking indoors is an important precaution. 

 Seven Day Average Case Rates for Connecticut counties through July 30 are as follows:

Vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals at high risk for complications from COVID-19, including those with compromised immune systems, diabetes, asthma, other lung diseases, pregnancy, or obesity, should also avoid large indoor gatherings that may include a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

Vaccination remains the most important defense against illness and hospitalization from COVID-19.  So-called “vaccine breakthrough” cases have occurred in Connecticut, but they remain rare, and the majority of hospitalizations and deaths in Connecticut and around the country are in unvaccinated individuals. DPH strongly recommends that unvaccinated individuals get vaccinated as soon as possible to help stop the ongoing spread of the Delta variant.

_{^{Published by: Heather Trabal, MD}}

_{^{heather.trabal@ct.gov}}