Outdoor restrictions set to be lifted in May
Businesses cheer Lamont decision as CT gets back to new normal
Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that he will lift most outdoor-related COVID-19 restrictions effective May 1, including the use of masks, and all remaining business restrictions on May 19, all but returning the state to pre-pandemic level activity.
The decision gets rid of all restrictions the governor put in place last spring, except for the requirement that masks be worn indoors, a day before Lamont’s extraordinary executive powers are set to expire.
“On May 1, there’s going to be a little more outside fun, which I appreciate as long as we’re careful and on May 19, we’re back to our new normal,” Lamont said, making the announcement at his
afternoon press conference on the pandemic.
The mask mandate will still apply to indoor settings at least until May 19. Lamont said he would decide, with input from state lawmakers, whether to keep the mandate in place past that or instead issue guidance recommending masks be worn indoors.
Currently, a mask is required to be worn in public – both indoors and outdoors – when someone can’t maintain six feet of distance from another person.
The governor said he came to the decision to loosen all other restrictions Sunday after consulting with Acting Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford and his commissioner of economic development David Lehman, whom he tasked with talking with their counterparts in other states and reviewing public health data to provide him with recommendations for further re-openings.
The governor’s chief of staff, Paul Mounds, and chief operating officer, Josh Geballe, were also “at the table” Sunday, Lamont said. The group spent several hours “going through different iterations,” he said, “where we were on vaccinations and where we thought we could open safely.”
The governor did not seek input directly from public health experts, including members of his reopening committee, at least in an official capacity. He said members of his administration regularly talk with healthcare professionals across the state.
The state’s vaccination rate is going up at about 10% per week, with officials expecting 70% of those eligible to get the vaccine will have received at least one dose by the end of April. With the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine still on pause, the state is using the two dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
As long as the pace of vaccinations keeps up and the state continues to experience
low infection and hospitalization rates, the governor said the lifting of restrictions will move forward. Though he acknowledged Connecticut had surpassed a grim milestone Monday: more than 8,000 coronavirus-linked deaths.
“We had no idea the scope of the tragedy we were confronting a year ago,” Lamont said.
The state will reach its “new normal” exactly one year after the governor began reopening the economy after a months-long lockdown on all but essential businesses.
Starting May 1, people will no longer have to wear masks when outdoors or be required to purchase food to drink alcohol when dining outdoors. The 8-person table limit for outdoor dining will be lifted, and the curfew for businesses will be pushed from 11 p.m. to midnight.
Bars must still require its patrons to purchase food with alcohol when seated inside, and masks must be worn indoors when people are not eating or drinking.
All remaining business restrictions, including social distancing requirements, will end May 19.
Tim Restall, president of the Hartford Yard Goats, joined Lamont at his Monday briefing on the pandemic. The minor league baseball stadium was being used as a vaccination site, but will trade shots for baseball bats May 11 when the season starts.
“When May 11 comes around and that first pitch is thrown, it’ll be 621 days since the last time the Yard Goats had taken the field,” Restall said.
Then starting May 19, the stadium and other outdoor venues will be able to operate at full capacity without any limits.
The Connecticut Restaurant Association, weighing in before Lamont’s briefing end, applauded the news with executive director Scott Dolch saying “More than a year after this pandemic began, local restaurant owners and employees can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Today’s news gives restaurants a plan and a timeline for recovery,” Dolch said.
Howard Saffan, developer of the new Bridgeport amphitheater, responded to the announcement in an emailed statement, saying “We are looking forward to a successful 2021 season. It certainly will be a summer of fun at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater.”
The amphitheater has yet to announce its lineup for this year and is putting the finishing touches on the building.
Dr. Manisha Juthani, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine and infectious diseases specialist at Yale Medicine, said it makes sense to first loosen the mask mandate outdoors, given that’s where the risk of transmitting COVID-19 is lowest, particularly in warmer weather.
“Last summer, with outdoor activities and more humidity, which causes droplets to fall more quickly, we had a significant drop in the amount of circulating virus. As the weather gets warmer in CT, the risk of transmission for COVID is bound to drop,” Juthani said in an email Monday
Juthani said she has concerns about removing the mask mandate for large events outdoors such as concerts, where people are likely to congregate in close proximity to each other, especially given more contagious variants of the virus that are circulating.
“With the more transmissible B.1.1.7. variant making up 50% of COVID cases in CT, I have heard of transmission of COVID occurring at outdoor sporting events, for example,” she said. “Masking is the only way to prevent that.”
The state Department of Public Health is soon expected to issue recommendations for how to safely operate indoor and large outdoor events.
The governor reported Monday that the state’s daily positivity rate was 2.68%, eight additional people are hospitalized since Friday for a total of 494, and there were another 19 coronavirus-related deaths, totaling 8,014.
While Connecticut is showing success with its vaccine rollout, the number of deaths and patients hospitalized went up slightly and then have remained relatively flat for the past month, Juthani said.
“The more contagious and deadly variants along with further reopening have likely contributed to this,” she said.
Lamont last lifted restrictions April 2, allowing outdoor amusement parks to open with no capacity limit, outdoor event venues to increase capacity to 50%, capped at 10,000 people, and indoor stadiums to open at 10% capacity.