Gov. Ned Lamont will begin twice-weekly testing for roughly 20 senior staff members as early as this week.
After the runaway spread of coronavirus at the White House — President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, senior advisor Hope Hicks, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and others have tested positive — Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont will begin twiceweekly testing for roughly 20 senior staff members as early as this week.
The Governor’s Office will also undergo an additional assessment by the state Department of Public Health to make sure its offices at the state capitol are safe. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and her staff will also be tested.
In addition to the governor and Lt. governor, testing will be mandatory for Reiss, two chiefs of staff, Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe, two senior advisors, the director of policy, two top aides and several other staff members.
“A testing protocol is something that definitely does not hurt our efforts to keep the governor and his family, but also our extended families of the senior staff safe,” said Max Reiss, Lamont’s director of communications. “However, the most important thing all of us can do every day is to do the basics, wearing masks, washing our hands and avoiding large gatherings. You can see that even in an incredibly secure environment like the White House that was not safe even with a rigorous testing protocol.”
Some details, including the testing vendor and location, are still undetermined. “Our plan is to work with a testing system and a lab that could process all tests within 24 hours,” Reiss said.
Currently, there is no testing protocol, though various staff members have been tested at some point or another. Lamont’s office has also instituted a number of precautions, Reiss said, like reducing the number of staff members who work in the offices on a regular basis.
“We’ve already taken that step,” Reiss said. “We have PPE, we have hand sanitizer and our offices get cleaned on a regular basis by the Office of Legislative Management. But we’re also looking at potential other modifications that could be made, like potentially the addition of nonporous barriers in some areas.”
On Friday, Lamont said the news that President Trump and others have tested positive for the coronavirus was a “wake-up call” for anyone becoming too casual about its spread or declining to wear a mask, adding that testing so far for his staff had occurred “every two or three weeks” over the last few months.
“The president’s staff, they’re tested on a daily basis, and that reminds you that testing is not foolproof,” Lamont said. “There are leaks in that system, especially if you’re a carrier. You may not be symptomatic at that point. The tests may miss that.”
To date, no one on Lamont’s staff has tested positive for the coronavirus.