Last month, Gov. Ned Lamont introduced a new metric to his daily data report for monitoring the spread of COVID-19 across Connecticut communities. The state now tracks the “Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population,” comparing the average daily rate of COVID-19 cases over two weeks for all 169 CT towns.

Officials classify the towns’ risk level by their average daily case rates over two weeks, with guidance for increasing precautions town-wide depending on whether a town registered in the yellow (moderate), orange (concerning) or red (red-alert) zones.

Wilton has been in the yellow zone steadily since the metric was introduced–but that’s likely not to last very long. In the last two weeks, the town’s case rate has been markedly increasing, briefly entering the red-alert level (more than 15 cases per 100,000) before settling back down into the orange.

When Lamont originally introduced the map of towns showing the case rates, there were 11 towns considered red-alert towns. That jumped to 19 towns, before increasing to the current number of 30 red-alert towns. With the state releasing new two-week average daily case rate calculations each Thursday, it’s highly likely that Wilton officially will be classified as orange–or potentially red–today, Nov. 5.

As of Nov. 4, Wilton is classified as ‘yellow’ on the current risk map showing the average daily rate of COVID cases per town. That ranking is likely to change to either ‘orange’ or ‘red-alert’ on Nov. 5.
As of Nov. 4, Wilton is classified as ‘yellow’ on the current risk map showing the average daily rate of COVID cases per town. That ranking is likely to change to either ‘orange’ or ‘red-alert’ on Nov. 5.

Before this week, Lamont announced that first selectmen, mayors and town administrators of red-alert towns had the discretion to roll back their towns to Phase 2 precautions. But Lamont made that a moot point when he rolled back the entire state to Phase 2 on Monday, Nov. 2, effective this Friday.

It’s important to note that the numbers used by the state–and also used by GOOD Morning Wilton in its calculations–do not include any residents in assisted living facilities, nursing homes or prisons.

Cases Rising, Risk Increasing

Several indicators show that the risk of exposure is rising significantly, both in Wilton and across the state.

  • Wilton saw 24 new cases in the last week alone. That was almost twice as much as the number of cases the week before (13). The town has now recorded 319 positive cases since the start of the pandemic.
  • Wednesday, Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith notified the community of four new cases in the district–three confirmed COVID-positive cases at Cider Mill and one presumed positive case at Miller-Driscoll.
  • Less than one week ago, Smith announced that several Wilton High School athletes had been exposed to a COVID-positive athlete from another school. Several students were placed on 14-day quarantine as a result.
  • COVID Act Now has kept Fairfield County at it’s ‘red’ risk level, which it defines as “Active or imminent outbreak:  Fairfield County is either actively experiencing an outbreak or is at extreme risk. COVID cases are exponentially growing and/or Fairfield County’s COVID preparedness is significantly below international standards.” Across the county the rate is now at 34.5 new daily cases per 100,000, up from 27.8 cases/100,000 just this past Monday.
  • Three days ago, Fairfield County was the only ‘red’ county on COVID Act Now’s map; now, New Haven County’s risk level has turned ‘red’ as well.
  • On Wednesday, the United States hit a morbid marker:  for the first time, the country. recorded over 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day.