With the coronavirus spreading nationally and 19 other states pulling back or pausing on their reopening plans, Gov. Ned Lamont said Wednesday that he is considering a pause in the third phase of Connecticut’s reopening as the state continues battling the virus.
“Look, Texas loved their bars. Miami Beach loves their bars,” Lamont said Wednesday. “Arizona loves their bars. They opened them too early, and they closed them down because they saw what happened there. I’m going to err on the side of caution. Absolutely.”
Regarding the chances of reversing some reopenings, Lamont said, “I think we’ve handled our reopening well. We didn’t do it as early as some other states. We waited for the metrics to go down. I’m sort of inclined to think about a pause before we do anything else because I’m looking at the flare-ups. They’re getting closer to Connecticut. Thank God we’ve got good neighbors with low infection rates as well.”
Connecticut was planning to open bars, indoor event spaces and allow large outdoor events of up to 100 people later this month under phase 3 of the state’s reopening strategy. That plan may now be delayed as Lamont and health officials watch the virus spread and death count grow.
Nationally, more than 100 cases of the virus have been linked to a single bar in Michigan — showing how quickly the virus can spread in a crowded social setting that often includes scores of young people.
With cases spreading, California took a drastic step Wednesday and ordered restaurants closed for indoor dining, along with bars, movie theaters, and bowling alleys in counties covering more than 70 percent of the state. New York City also indefinitely delayed indoor dining that had been scheduled to restart at restaurants next week.
In Connecticut, Lamont has doubled his travel advisory, saying that travelers from 16 states should self-quarantine for two weeks after arriving in Connecticut if they have not tested negative for the virus within 72 hours of arrival. The new states on the list are California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee after the initial “hot spot” states of Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, North Carolina, and Utah.
“The number of people flying into Connecticut from these infected states is down dramatically,” Lamont told reporters Wednesday after a news conference in Manchester. “Down a lot since we put in the quarantine. A number of people who are thinking of coming up here just for pleasure travel are canceling. I think cancellations are up by a factor of two. So it is making a difference.”
He added, “I want them to get tested in Florida — before they get on an airplane and before they can potentially infect a lot of people in the plane. … That’s what we’re trying to work out.”
In a regional approach, Lamont has joined with the governors of New York and New Jersey to spread the word on the travel advisory at major airports like Kennedy and Newark. New York officials say fines could eventually be as high as $10,000 for failure to comply with the quarantine directive, but Lamont is seeking voluntary compliance.
With infections increasing around the country, Lamont and his administration are trying to make sure that Connecticut doesn’t lose its gains as the virus has slowed down sharply. Those hospitalized in Connecticut reached more than 1,900 in mid-April, but that number has dropped dramatically to 100 as of Wednesday.
While bars and restaurants have been among the most high-profile businesses impacted by the virus, Lamont said that relatively few employees have been working in offices across the state and no changes are needed in the short term.
“Most people in offices can tele-commute,” Lamont said. “We’ve said no more than 50 percent capacity. My understanding is most of them are at 15 percent capacity — much less than that. So I don’t think that’s something we have to revisit.”
Concerning whether he will be expanding the ongoing freeze on evictions, Lamont said, “We just extended it to late August, and let’s see what the world looks like then.”
Even with hospitalizations and infections down sharply from the peak levels, Lamont said that senior citizens should still keep the same precautions as in recent months.
“I think older folks should stay closer to home,” Lamont said. “They’re still much more at risk.”
