Lamont won’t follow Mass. in lifting restaurant curfew
The Massachusetts governor’s office announced Thursday that the curfew for table service at state restaurants and liquor sales will be lifted, nearly three months after it was implemented in early November and quickly adopted by Gov. Ned Lamont in Connecticut the same day.
But Lamont said in a news conference Thursday that he would not follow Massachusetts’ lead just yet.
“Our schools are just reopening now; high school sports are just coming back. Colleges are just coming back,” he said. “We’ve had another couple (cases) of the extremely infectious strain of virus ... so I think it’s prudent to take a look at the next couple of weeks. But I appreciate the trend.”
Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced in an earlier news conference that the state would begin “carefully lifting its restrictions” for affected businesses, including restaurants, as of 5 a.m. on Monday. Restaurants will again be able to operate past 9:30 p.m., but will remain at a 25 percent capacity limit until Feb. 8.
Scott Dolch, executive director of the association, said Thursday he believes Connecticut can and should also remove its current recommended curfew.
“Gov. Lamont has been
thoughtful about how and when Connecticut has changed its COVID restrictions on business, and a major part of his approach has been a consistent focus on acting regionally with neighboring states,” he said.
“Massachusetts is likely taking this step in part because their extensive review of more than 35,000 coronavirus clusters has found that less than half of 1 percent were connected to restaurants and food courts,” Dolch said. “In other words, while Connecticut must continue to be vigilant against the virus, there is ample data showing that restaurants have and will continue to keep their customers and employees safe.”
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker first announced the curfew on Nov. 2 as COVID case numbers rose in the Bay State, requiring restaurants to close at 10 p.m.
and stop seating patrons at 9:30 p.m. Restaurants would only be able to offer takeout and delivery after that hour.
Later that day, Lamont announced Connecticut would implement the same closing time, initially asking restaurants to close by 9:30 p.m. He said the decision was made with neighboring states’ guidelines, particularly with the northern border in mind, as he didn’t want residents driving back and forth looking for later seatings.
“We are 100 percent aligned with Massachusetts,” he said in a Nov. 5 press conference.
Lamont later extended the closing time to 10 p.m., after pushback from restaurateurs and the Connecticut Restaurant Association. They were frustrated that an early closing would further erode already shrinking revenue figures, particularly on weekend nights.