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COVID outbreak report cites restaurants and the workplace as places where clusters most commonly emerge

The state says the data can't be looked at in a vacuum.

The latest outbreak investigations report compiled by the infectious disease team at the state Department of Public Health shows that restaurants and the workplace are the two most common settings where COVID clusters have emerged.

Next is homes, childcare centers, places of worship and sports facilities.

The team at DPH tracked 84 COVID clusters to their traceable points of origin, although the state points out they can’t definitively say where transmission occurred because people may have encountered the virus multiple times.

Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe’s office told FOX61, "When community spread increases, it can be more challenging to identify outbreak locations.

When looking at this data - it's important not to do it in a vacuum, but to look at it alongside data about testing, hospitalizations, contact tracing, and other pieces of information."

When it comes to restaurants, Gov. Lamont limited capacity to 50% indoors.

The report notes that most of the clusters are related to food service workers, not patrons.

Scott Dolch the Executive Director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association said, "I continue to harp on that we are leaders in safety and sanitation, and I don’t really want to pick out and look at the report too much because I think there needs to be more detail. I talked to my colleagues as you can imagine in the National Restaurant Association and all the data is pointing to that we are not a source of spread."

Dolch pointed out that states like Massachusetts and New York have reported much more robust and complete figures when it comes to clusters.

They are tracking tens of thousands of active clusters as opposed to just 84.

"They unfortunately get a case; they do everything with DPH. They figure out what it is and if there is close contact and make sure those people go get tested and quarantine. But we haven’t seen it spread. We haven’t seen restaurants have any issues beyond that which I think it a really good sign about how we run our restaurants from a safety side," remarked Dolch.

While 4th on the list, childcare centers have seen the biggest increase in cluster related activity since November.

Commissioner of Early Childhood Beth Bye told FOX61 their cases started going up in the fall. "We’ve gone from about 20 cases reported to us per month to about 200 in those 2,600 programs."

Many day cares perform health screenings, and all are requiring both staff and children wear masks, wash hands frequently, spread out during meals, cohort and class size is limited to 16.

"The rate in childcare is still much lower than the rate in the community," said Bye.

The team at DPH investigates COVID clusters via the contact tracing app.

A cluster is defined as two or more cases at the same location. The report also does not include clusters identified at healthcare institutions, schools or colleges and universities.

Those are tracked through their specific facilities.

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