Study: CT Ranks No. 6 In States Recovering Quickest From COVID-19

ACROSS CONNECTICUT — Connecticut is one of the top states in the country recovering the quickest from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Wallethub study.

It takes the No. 6 overall spot. The states recovering even faster than Connecticut are Vermont (No. 5), Nebraska (No. 4), Maine (No. 3), Iowa (No. 2) and South Dakota (No. 1), the study reports.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 positivity rate in Connecticut is just over 1 percent for the first time since early June, according to Gov. Ned Lamont's office. The latest COVID-19 metric report for the state shows that 141 people tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 350,386. Thirty people are currently hospitalized for the virus.

Vaccine data for Connecticut:

Connecticut is currently one of the leading states in the country to have the highest share of its population fully vaccinated — only Vermont and Massachusetts rank higher, according to the study. As of July 7, state data shows that 62.65 percent of the population in Connecticut have had at least one vaccine and 57.44 percent are fully vaccinated.

The study also found that the state boasts ones of the lowest death rates in the country and ranks No. 1 for having the lowest share of hospitals with staff shortages.

Nationwide, around 48 percent of the population — or 160.1 million people— has been fully vaccinated as of July 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. As more people get vaccinated, states continue to loosen COVID-19 restrictions. However, we're not out of the woods yet.

The CDC announced Wednesday that cases are going up in over half of U.S. states and territories, largely due to Delta and other variants of the virus. The 7-day average of daily new cases is 24,141, up 65.9 percent from the week before.

In Connecticut, there have been 78 cases of the delta variant detected so far.

Health experts continue to encourage people to get the shot, even as the demand for the vaccine in Connecticut drops. Just over 36,200 doses were administered in the most recent week reported by the state Department of Public Health, down from a high of around 315,000 in April.

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