Coronavirus Ridgefield: Infections On Uptick In Schools

RIDGEFIELD, CT — There is one less Connecticut town in the high coronavirus alert "red zone" this week, even as many towns in the southwest of the state are taking more time to turn the corner.

Where there are new infections in the Northeast, health officials are pointing towards the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.2. Health officials are predicting the new coronavirus flavor will be 50-60 percent more contagious than the original omicron variant, but with far less severe symptoms.

Ridgefield, which climbed from "yellow" to "orange" last week, has remained there, at the second-highest alert level. The town had 10 average daily cases per 100,000 residents and a positive test rate of 4.4 percent between Mar. 6-19, according to the state Department of Public Health.

But there were just 10.9 average daily cases per 100,000 residents in the previous two-week reporting period, and the test rate is down 0.3 percent from last week's numbers.

It's important to note that a few cases can have a large impact on a municipal case rate, especially for small towns.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ridgefield schools is on the upswing, in the most recent data from DPH.

Eight local schools, double last week's count, have reported COVID-1 cases among their students. Barlow Mountain Elementary School, East Ridge Middle School, Farmingville Elementary School, Ridgebury Elementary School, Ridgefield High School, Scotland Elementary School, Scotts Ridge Middle School and Veterans Park Elementary School all reported fewer than six cases of COVID-19 among their student body from Mar. 17-23.

As of Thursday, 65.4 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated. In Connecticut, 78.3 percent of residents have had both jabs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both the nation's and the state's vaccinated population climbed 0.1 percent from last week's tabulation. Just over half of Connecticut residents have received a booster shot against the coronavirus.

Ridgefield is slightly ahead of the state curve, with 81.76 percent of its residents fully vaccinated, according to the latest DPH data.