Department of Public Health

With the second phase of Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to reopen state businesses set for Wednesday, the governor’s office announced Saturday afternoon that the number of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 continued to decline. The governor’s office said 233 patients are hospitalized in Connecticut with COVID-19 -- 11 fewer than Friday. 

Vape manufacturers have long been accused of marketing to teens with flavors like mango and cotton candy. Now vaping opponents say vape manufacturers are exploiting the coronavirus with face mask and hand sanitizer giveaways and #COVID-19 discounts.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal sat under a pop-up canopy on the New Haven Green, tilted his head back and submitted to a nasal swab for a COVID-19 test. The moment was a photo op for a media-savvy senator and a public-service pitch for a state promoting testing as it slowly loosens restrictions on commerce.

Families with loved ones in nursing homes–unable to visit while getting frustratingly sparse information about them–have found a champion in Mairead Painter.

Gov. Ned Lamont has fired Renée Coleman-Mitchell as commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, a reflection of concerns that first arose last year during a school vaccination controversy and came to a head during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal and state response to COVID-19 in nursing homes is riddled with economic — and racial — inequities that are taking a greater toll in deaths and illnesses than government officials have disclosed, Connecticut’s largest health care workers’s union charged Friday.

From ancient mixtures of boiled goat fats and ashes to modern artisanal soaps with calendula and coffee grinds, humans have been inventing clever ways of cleaning themselves since the very beginning.

This quest for cleanliness has wound its way through religion, sexuality, culture, and more. It has been the source of everything from comedies to conflicts to consumer crazes. This hour we talk to experts and historians about the history of hygiene.

Gov. Ned Lamont on Sunday ordered all public schools closed through the end of March in his latest attempt to slow the spread of the potentially fatal coronavirus.

Gov. Ned Lamont has declared civil preparedness and public health emergencies as Connecticut braces for the spread of the coronavirus.

A community physician who works at Bridgeport Hospital is the second hospital employee in Connecticut to be infected with coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 illness.

Hospital officials told reporters Saturday afternoon that the man is a New York resident and lives in Westchester County. The state was notified of the positive case by the New York State Department of Health. 

What do you need to know to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak in our state? 

This hour, medical doctors join us to answer your questions. We learn how Connecticut residents can protect themselves and their families against coronavirus, and what researchers are doing to identify a vaccine.

We also discuss how employers should prepare. Is your workplace talking about coronavirus and what to do if there’s a potential outbreak?

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Hundreds of people packed into the Legislative Office Building in Hartford Wednesday ahead of a public hearing on a bill that would change the state’s childhood vaccinations laws.

Connecticut children can attend public school by either complying with required vaccinations or by obtaining an exemption from vaccination based on religious or medical reasons. A proposed bill would eliminate the religious exemption. 

A total of 1,665 Connecticut children under age 6 had lead poisoning in 2017, a drop of almost 17% from the year before and the largest one-year decrease in five years, according to a just-released report from the state Department of Public Health (DPH).

A child has died from the flu, state officials announced Thursday, making it the first pediatric fatality in the state this season.

The child was from New Haven County and was between 1 and 4 years old, according to Department of Public Health officials.

Two Connecticut residents infected with the influenza virus have died, the state’s first flu-related deaths of the 2019-20 season, according to state public health officials. 

New state data show that vaccination rates among some of the youngest schoolchildren in Connecticut fall below federally recommended levels.

The Department of Public Health Monday released school-by-school immunization data from the 2018/2019 year, which showed there were 134 schools where less than 95% percent of kindergartners got vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella.

The state is expected to release new school-by-school vaccination and exemption data Monday after a Hartford Superior Court judge denied a Bristol couple’s attempt to temporarily block the release.

Attorney Cara Pavalock-D’Amato argued in court on behalf of her clients Brian and Kristen Festa that the release of a second report detailing percentages of religious and medical vaccine exemptions at each Connecticut school would continue to cause “irreparable harm” to the Festas, who have a son with a religious exemption.

A third Connecticut resident has died from EEE, and another person has been diagnosed with the illness, state officials announced Tuesday.

Dr. Matthew Cartter, state epidemiologist of the Department of Public Health, said in a statement that a person from East Haddam between 60 and 69 years old died during the third week of September from the mosquito-borne illness.

A number of laws from the last legislative session went into effect Tuesday, including a tobacco ban for consumers under the age of 21.

A second person in Connecticut has died from Eastern equine encephalitis, a virus passed on from mosquitos, said state officials Tuesday.

According to the state Department of Public Health, the victim was an adult resident of Old Lyme who became ill during the second week of September and later tested positive for the rare mosquito-borne illness.

One person has now died in Connecticut of the mosquito-borne illness Eastern equine encephalitis, and another case has been confirmed. Health officials say with EEE ‘likely to persist in the area,' Connecticut residents should focus on prevention.

The virus can cause brain damage in survivors, and there is currently no cure.