Daily coronavirus updates: Dr. Anthony Fauci says Connecticut could avoid a COVID-19 surge if containment efforts continue

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that Connecticut should be able to contain a COVID-19 surge later this year with proper mask-wearing and social distancing.

“It is not inevitable that your numbers will go up,” Fauci said during an afternoon press briefing, where he appeared via video link with Gov. Ned Lamont. “It is possible that you can use the favorable position that you are in now to keep your numbers down.”

On a day when the state reached the grim milestone of over 50,000 coronavirus cases but hospitalizations declined sharply, Fauci answered questions from Connecticut reporters at Lamont’s invitation.

“Connecticut is in a good place,” Fauci said. “You are in a situation that you now, in many respects, have the upper hand, because you have such a low rate that when you do get new cases, you have the capability of containment as opposed to mitigation.”

Fauci, the nation’s leading spokesperson on coronavirus, not only applauded Connecticut’s progress so far but also pointed to the state’s continued vigilance on mask-wearing and social distancing, which he said will help the state avoid a resurgence in cases.

After suffering an intense coronavirus outbreak during the spring, Connecticut has held its positivity rate at about 1% over the past month, even as other states have seen their cases surge.

Fauci weighs in on schools

Several weeks before Connecticut’s schools are slated to reopen, Fauci said it makes sense to prioritize reopening schools for the sake of children’s social and mental health, as well as access to nutrition. But safety, he said, is paramount.

“The default position should be to try as best as you possibly can to open up the schools for in-person learning,” Fauci said. But “the primary consideration should always be the safety, the health and the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers.”

Lamont, alongside Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona, have so far left the exact reopening details in the hands of individual school districts. The two said last week that districts may choose to reopen with hybrid models of online and in-person classes, if they so choose.

However, Lamont and Cardona have repeatedly said that they would like to see all students return to school in the fall.

On Monday, Fauci suggested case-by-case decisions might make the most sense, depending for example on various schools’ ventilation systems and other risk factors.

“You have to do the risk-benefit [analysis] … depending upon what you think the risk in your community is,” Fauci said. “If the risk is very low, you might try to see if you can open the schools. And if you can’t, then you go to the other models.”

School districts across the state have said they would like more state guidance on how to respond to potential coronavirus infections or spikes in their schools and their communities. The state so far has not provided additional guidance.

Asked about fall sports, Fauci said schools should play only if they can allow for social distancing and other safety measures.

“It depends on the sport, and it depends what you’re talking about vis a vis contact vs. non-contact, spectators vs. non-spectators,” Fauci said.

50,000 confirmed cases

The state on Monday reported 252 new cases since Friday, pushing Connecticut to 50,062 coronavirus cases.

The state also reported five new coronavirus-related deaths since Friday, for a total of 4,437. Hospitalizations, however, dropped by 13 over the weekend. Connecticut now has 56 patients hospitalized with coronavirus, according to state data.

Though he praised Connecticut, Fauci pointed to concerning trends in other parts of the country, noting that southern states such as Florida and southwestern states such as Arizona that have seen coronavirus spikes in recent weeks. Fauci said that as those states begin to plateau, others stand at risk of similar situations.

Across the whole of the U.S., there have been more than 4.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 155,000 coronavirus deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.

“We’ve gotten hit quite badly with regard to total number of cases,” Fauci said.

Emily Brindley can be reached at ebrindley@courant.com. Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.