“We encourage all businesses within our communities to adopt masking policies for employees and customers, regardless of vaccination status.” (Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) Director of Health Stephen Mansfield)

LYME-OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report issued Thursday, Jan. 13, at 4 p.m. by the Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH) shows six new, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Old Lyme taking that town’s total of cumulative cases to 809.

Six new cases were also reported in Lyme raising that town’s cumulative case total to 205.

The next Daily Data Report will be issued by the state Friday, Jan. 14, around 4 p.m.

The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate was down from 21.24% in the Jan. 12 report to 20.27% and encouragingly, COVID-related hospitalizations decreased by 22 to 1,917.

Of those hospitalized, 1,288 (representing 67.2%) are not fully vaccinated.

Today, Jan. 14, an article by Alex Putterman published in the Hartford Courant starts with the words, “Connecticut may have finally passed the worst of the omicron variant outbreak late this week, as hospitalizations and the overall caseload continue to decline.”

Similarly, on Thursday, Jan. 13, David Leonhardt wrote in ‘The Morning Newsletter” published by The New York Times, “There are early signs that Omicron has begun to peak. The number of new Covid-19 cases in New York City rose more than twentyfold in December. In the past few days, it has flattened”

He also noted, “In Boston, the amount of the Covid virus detected in wastewater, which has been a leading indicator of case trends in the past, has plunged by about 40 percent since its peak just after Jan. 1.”

Leonhardt was quick to caution, however, “To be clear, the current emergency is not on the verge of ending. Cases appear to be peaking only in places where Omicron arrived early, mostly in the Northeast (our use of bold). In much of the country, cases are still soaring.”

Statewide Data

The Thursday, Jan. 13 Daily COVID-19 Report includes the newly updated weekly COVID-19 Average Daily Case Rate Report issued by the state on Thursdays, which showed that the total number of towns in the Red (highest) Zone for case rates remains at 168, leaving only one town in the state — Canaan — not in the Red Zone. This number of 168 is equivalent to 99.4 percent of towns in the state.

All the towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) are in the Red Zone.

To demonstrate the speed of this current surge, the total number of towns in the Red Zone on Nov. 24, 2021 was 110. As further comparative points of reference, the week prior to Thanksgiving (Nov. 18, 2021), there were 67 towns in the Red Zone, on Oct. 7, 2021 the number was down to 37, and on July 8, and June 17, 2021, there was not a single one.

Old Lyme is in the Red (highest) Zone for the eighth consecutive week: prior to these seven weeks, the last time Old Lyme was in the Red Zone was Sept. 30, 2021.

Lyme is in the Red Zone for the sixth week in succession.

Details of the Daily Case Rate Zones are as follows:

• The Gray category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is less than five or less than five reported cases.
• The Yellow category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is between five and nine reported cases.
• The Orange category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is between 10 and 14.
• The Red category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town exceeds 15.

In all cases, this rate does not include cases or tests among residents of nursing home, assisted living, or correctional facilities.

The CT DPH will issue an updated map of the zones Jan. 20, 2022 — the map is updated weekly on Thursdays.

Here are some significant extracts from the Jan. 13 CT DPH report, which clearly indicate the importance of getting vaccinated and boosted:

As of Jan. 12, 2022: (the number in parentheses is from Jan. 5, 2021)

• Number of cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 115,021 (83,147)
• Number of fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 2,540,829(2,526,891)
• Percent of fully vaccinated persons, who have contracted COVID-19: 4.53% (3.29%)
• Of the 1,784(1,151) patients currently hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, 1,213–68% (619–71.2%) are not fully vaccinated.

For the week beginning Jan. 2, 2022: (the number in parentheses is from Dec. 26, 2021)

• Risk of unvaccinated persons testing positive for COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 3.4x greater (3.3x greater)
• Risk of unvaccinated persons dying from COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 18.6x greater (17.2x greater)
• The total number of COVID-19-associated deaths is 9,442.

Increase in Cases in Lyme & Old Lyme Since August 2021

The cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 366 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443 — that number had stood unchanged for a week since the previous Thursday, Nov. 4.

On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 437 new cases there since that date. Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 91 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.

Ledge Light Health District Data, Communications

All the towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) remain in the Red Zone.

In an email sent Thursday, Jan. 13, regarding the latest COVID-19 data, Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) Director of Health Stephen Mansfield stated, “ We continue to see a significant increase in the number of new COVID cases within our jurisdiction.”

He continues, “Ledge Light Health District advises all businesses and residents take direct steps to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in your business, home, and place of work. We encourage all businesses within our communities to adopt masking policies for employees and customers, regardless of vaccination status.”

Mansfield concluded, “LLHD continues to focus our vaccination efforts on homebound populations and providing initial vaccinations and boosters to individuals who were vaccinated previously.

Information about vaccination opportunities can be found at https://llhd.org/coronavirus-covid-19-situation/covid-19-vaccine/

COVID testing opportunities can be found at COVID-19 Testing | Ledge Light Health District (llhd.org)

The following link provides centralized access to Connecticut COVID data: https://data.ct.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-data/wa3g-tfvc/

COVID-19 Cases in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools

No new COVID cases were reported Thursday, Jan. 13.

Under new state protocols for schools, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools are no longer required to carry out contact tracing , but Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser said in a Jan. 4 email to the school community that he, “… will continue to notify the school community of any positive cases of COVID-19 that impact the schools.”

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools closed Dec. 23, 2021 and reopened Monday, Jan. 3, 2022 after the winter break meaning no new cases were reported by the schools during that period. We are no longer including positive cases impacting LOL schools between Aug 26, 2021 (the first day of the 2021-22 academic school year) and Dec. 23, 2021 (the last day of school before winter break began), in this report. During that period contact tracing was still required.

View the full listing of cases during that period (8/26/21 – 12/23/21) at this link.

A full listing of all LOL Schools-related cases during 2022 is given below.

This is the latest information that we have with the most recent cases first — there may have been further updates, however, which we have not yet received.

On Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of [three] individuals who tested positive after being present at school.  At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms where those individuals were present are identified by the teacher’s last name: Mile Creek – 2 (Hotchkiss, Oliver), LOL Middle School – 1.

On Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of [three] individuals who tested positive after being present at school.  At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms where those individuals were present are identified by the teacher’s last name: Center School – 1 (Newman), Lyme School – 2 (Tartisel, Sestrom)

On Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Over the weekend we became aware of the following [two] individuals who tested positive after being present at school.  At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms are identified by the teacher’s last name: Mile Creek- 1 (Velikaneye), Lyme- 1 (McNamara)

On Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of the following [one] individual, who tested positive after being present at school.  At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms are identified by the teacher’s last name: Mile Creek- 1 (Wilson.)

On Thursday, Jan. 6, Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of the following [seven] individuals, who tested positive after being present at school.  At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms are identified by the teacher’s last name: LOLHS [Lyme-Old Lyme High School] – 5, Lyme [School] – 1 (Tartisel), and Center [School]-1 (Lucier.)”

On Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of the following [14] individuals who tested positive after being present at school.  At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms are identified by the teacher’s last name: LOLHS- 6, Mile Creek- 1 (Herel), Lyme- 3 (Tartisel, Sobus, McDermott) and Center-4 (Mullaney’s PM class, Miles)

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, Neviaser informed the school community that the administration had been made aware of “four individuals at Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) and one individual in the Center School 3-year old PK classroom, who tested positive after being present at school.”

Fatalities Due to COVID-19 in Lyme, Old Lyme

There has been one COVID-related fatality of a Lyme resident: a 57-year-old male passed away Nov. 16, 2021. On Nov. 30, the state finally included this fatality in its data

Three COVID-related fatalities have been reported in Old Lyme. The first two fatalities from Old Lyme, which were reported in 2020, were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.

Details of the third, which was reported in 2021, have not been made available.

COVID-19 Cases Over Time: Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021

The following maps show has the picture of COVID-19 Average Daily Case Rates has gone from an almost totally red (highest rate) map back in Dec. 2020 to an almost all-gray (lowest rate) map on June 17 and July 8, 2021, and back to almost completely red on Dec. 23, 2021.

Dec. 23, 2021

Dec. 16, 2021

Dec. 9, 2021

Dec. 2, 2021

Oct. 14, 2021

Both Lyme and Old Lyme are in the Gray (lowest) Zone, where Lyme has been since mid-September. The last time both towns were in the Gray Zone was July 22, 2021.

Sept. 23, 2021

Both Lyme and Old Lyme remained in the Red (highest) Zone for the average daily rate of new cases of COVID-19. This was the third week in succession that both towns were in the Red Zone.

Statewide, there were 81 towns now in the Red Zone, which is three down from the  previous week’s total of 84.  On Sept. 2, the total was 91 so the trend was undoubtedly downward although it was still up significantly from the 39 reported on Aug. 12.

Sept. 2, 2021

The map above is from Sept. 2 when 91 towns were in the Red Zone, which is down one from 92 a week ago on Aug. 26, but still up significantly from 73  on Aug. 19, and 39 on Aug. 12.

Old Lyme had fallen to the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with 10 other towns. This total of 11 towns is unchanged from last week, when Old Lyme was in the Orange Zone.

Lyme was in the Gray (lowest) Zone. This was the 24th straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone. Again, this total of 20 towns in the Gray Zone was unchanged from last week.

Forty-seven towns were in the Orange (second highest) Zone.

Aug. 26, 2021

The map above is from Aug. 26, when Old Lyme was in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone with a daily case rate per 100,000 of 10.8.

Eleven Connecticut towns were in the Yellow (second lowest) Zone down from 20the previous week. Locally, these included Deep River, Old Saybrook and Haddam.

The remaining 20 towns in the state, including Lyme, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 23rd straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.

Aug. 19, 2021

The map above is from Aug. 19 when Old Lyme was back in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone. Almost 50 towns in the state remained in the Orange Zone, which was around the same number as the previous week.

Less than 20 Connecticut towns were in the Yellow (second lowest) Zone down from 40 the previous week. Locally, these included including Deep River, Essex and East Haddam.

The remaining 20 towns in the state, including Lyme, are in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 22nd straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.

Aug. 12

The map above is from Aug. 12 and shows that Old Lyme had fallen out of the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone into the Yellow (second lowest) Zone — but only by a fraction.

Almost 50 towns were in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone — up from 33 the previous week — including Westbrook and Salem locally.

Old Lyme joined the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with around 40 other Connecticut towns, including Old Saybrook, East Lyme, and Essex.

All remaining towns in the state, including Lyme, along with Deep River and Chester, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 21st straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.

Aug. 5

The map above is from Aug. 5 when six towns were in the Red (highest case rate) Zone (the previous week’s number was four) and 33 in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone — the previous week’s number was four, including Old Lyme.

East Lyme* had reentered the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with more than 50 other Connecticut towns.

All remaining towns in the state, including Lyme*, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 20th straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.

July 29, 2021

The map above is from July 29, when four towns were in the Red Zone –Harland, Salem, Bozrah and Sprague — and four towns were in the Orange Zone — Easton, East Hampton, Ledyard and Thompson.

Old Lyme had reentered the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with more than 50 other Connecticut towns. All remaining towns in the state, including Lyme, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 19th straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.

July 15, 2021

The map above is from July 15, when one town, Franklin, was in the Red Zone (indicating the highest rate of COVID-19 new cases) and another two, Salem and Andover, were in the (second highest rate) Orange Zone. New Hartford and Griswold were in the Yellow Zone (indicating the lowest but one rate of COVID-19 new cases.)

July 8, 2021

This map above dated July 8, shows New Hartford as the sole town in the Yellow Zone.

June 17, 2021

The map above dated June 17, shows when just one town, Bolton, was in the Yellow Zone.

Dec. 18, 2020