With COVID cases rising, Middletown health official suggests masking up indoors

The city is still in the red — or highest — risk category, while Middlesex County has a high community level of transmission, according to Acting Health Department Director Kevin Elak.

From May 1 to 14, Middletown had a COVID an infection rate of 47.4 cases per 100,000 people each day over the two-week period.

Positive cases could be much more than the numbers indicate, he added. The true figure, Elak said, is “really unknown,” due to the state’s change in reporting. “They no longer factor in negative antigen tests or rapid PCR tests, so there’s really a low common denominator.”

He’s been fielding many calls from people asking about family members who have tested positive.

There is somewhat of a silver lining locally, Elak said. “One good thing is, the number of deaths remains relatively stable,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated its indoor mask recommendation this week.

Coronavirus in Connecticut

One thing that concerned local health officials when they began lifting indoor mask mandates was how easy it would be to transition back.

“In an ideal world, we would right now be saying, ‘let’s put our masks on for a few weeks until this blows over, and we can go back to removing them again, but it seems the community doesn’t have the appetite right now to go back to that,” Elak said.

It’s a nationwide issue, he added, giving the example of the judge who repealed the CDC mask order for airplane travel in recent months.

In the past, during warmer months, transmission rates declined, however, this time, Elak said, the pattern may change.

With high temperatures forecast for the weekend, the concern is the heat, combined with humidity and other factors, will drive more people indoors to cooler conditions, he explained.

The acting health director compared COVID symptoms to the recent worldwide increase in the monkeypox virus, which is easily identifiable by skin lesions. “You’re going to know if you’re infected, as opposed to COVID, where you can’t tell by outward appearances.”

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices expanded eligibility of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to everyone 5 and older. It now recommends that children 5 to 11 should receive a booster shot five months after their initial series.

People who are 50 or older and had their last booster at least four months ago are eligible for a second booster.

Visit middletownct.gov for a list of vaccination and testing sites. The U.S. government is offering a third round of free at-home COVID tests. To order, go to COVID.gov/tests.