(Reuters) – Connecticut on Monday reported the state’s highest one-day totals for novel coronavirus cases and related deaths, attributing the jump to a revised total count due to new classifications from federal regulators.
Connecticut recorded 1,853 new cases for a total of 19,815, and 204 additional deaths, bringing total fatalities to 1,331, according to a daily disclosure by the state’s health department, which it said incorporated a “catch up of cases and deaths reported” since April 16.
Governor Ned Lamont told a daily briefing the jump reflected new classifications required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which he said had made revisions on how to count deaths and cases.
“The CDC changed their definition in the last few days of both a positive case and somebody who dies of complications related to COVID or if somebody had COVID-like symptoms and passed away,” Lamont said. “We are just truing this up so we keep with the CDC and federal definition.”
The CDC did not immediately return a request for comment.
Hospitalizations in Fairfield County, a suburb of New York and the epicenter of the state’s battle with the epidemic, increased slightly after falling for two days straight. But Lamont said the trend was still improving for his state.
“We definitely have bent the curve, on the way down, hit the apex,” Lamont said about Fairfield County. “I think we feel fairly confident about that.”
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Dan Grebler)
