“I don’t think seasonality plays a big role with this virus,” he wrote in an email. Pedro Mendes, a disease modeler at the University of Connecticut, said he does not believe seasonality is an important factor in the spread of the coronavirus, but rather it comes down to more infectious variants and a lack of mitigation efforts. He called it a “Jersey Shore wave” as opposed to a “Hawaiian Pacific Coast wave.” Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford HealthCare. “The numbers haven’t been spiking, but they certainly have been rising,” said Dr. The seven-day positivity rate of 12.39 percent was the highest it has been since the winter. The state said Tuesday that 8,741 additional COVID cases had been identified over the previous seven days out of 70,577 reported tests. On Monday, the state said there were 276 hospitalizations, 80 fewer than were reported on Tuesday.ĬOVID-19 cases are also rising. This year, COVID is apparently on the rise. A week later, on May 17, 2021, the number was down to 170. A week earlier, on May 3, 2021, there were 343 COVID hospitalizations in the state. That 280 from last year, however, represented a continuing decrease in hospitalizations. The state said Tuesday there were 316 patients in Connecticut hospitals with a COVID infection. At the time, there were 280 people fighting COVID infections in Connecticut hospitals, according to state data, about on par with hospitalizations now.