Weekly Covid Report: June 24, 2022
Key chart from this report
About this report
Our reports are now updated on Friday of each week, following the schedule of data releases by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, which changed to a weekly basis on June 27, 2022.
Our reports chart Weston’s up-to-date cumulative cases, Fairfield County’s number and average of new daily cases, and the number of county residents hospitalized for Covid-19.
We also chart Fairfield County’s cumulative total of Covid-19 fatalities, Weston’s vaccination status by age group, the town’s number of tests and positivity rate, and the “Red Alert” map of hotspots in Connecticut.
We average the daily new cases for the seven-day period ending on the date of the report, then do the same for five preceding weeks. Averaging reduces the variability of daily numbers that may be partly influenced by the volume of tests performed on a given day.
The graphic provides a clear representation of the course the disease has recently taken. An upward course does not necessarily predict an upward trend. A downward trend over several weeks may indicate that efforts to contain and reduce the spread of infection are working.
We focus on the county, as the State recommends, because the dataset is larger and more reliable. It is also most relevant, since few people confine their activities to their town’s borders.
This chart depicts the average 14-day positivity rates for Weston, calculated at the end of each of the past six weeks. Averaging the rate over 14 days muffles daily volatility. But the basic issue with the positivity rate is that one would think it connects to actual cases, but it doesn’t.
When someone tests positive, he or she is counted as a confirmed case once and only once. But every test that person takes, no matter how many, no matter whether positive or negative, goes into the positivity calculation. That is true for all tests. As a result, the figure is more indicative of how much testing is being done than what is actually happening with the virus.
Red Alert
The number of Connecticut cities and towns in the red zone dropped to 98 this week. Weston’s case rate fell into the orange level, its first improvement after many weeks in the red.
The alert status of cities and towns is a calculation of their average daily Covid-19 case rate over the previous two weeks per 100,000 of population.
Red: case rates over the last two weeks greater than 15 per 100,000 of population.
Orange: 10 to 14 per 100,000.
Yellow: 5 to 9 per 100,000.
Gray: less than 5 per 100,000.