Lamont open to idea of regional quarantine for visitors

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is open to the idea of working with neighboring states to have visitors self-quarantine for two weeks if they are coming from parts of the U.S. with high rates of COVID-19, he said Monday, noting Connecticut cannot take its current low infection and hospitalization rates for granted.

Connecticut, New York and

New Jersey, possibly in conjunction with other states in the region, are expected to release details soon about a potential partnership where each would require people from high-COVID states to prove they’ve tested negative in the recent past, or else self-quarantine, Lamont said.

“We are talking about some sort of a regional quarantine. If these folks want to come to the New York metropolitan area, the Boston metropolitan area. Perhaps they should show that they’ve been tested in the very recent past or they should quarantine,” Lamont said. “We’re going to have some guidance on that very, very soon.”

Lamont, who spoke Monday with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the concept, said he could envision people who fly into one of the region’s airports being notified of the need to self-quarantine unless they’ve recently tested positive. Although, he acknowledged it might be difficult for people to self-isolate for two weeks, considering they may not be planning to stay that long in the state.

“I see this in Maine and some other states where they’re just requiring the testing coming up,” he said. “I think it makes good sense.”

As of Monday, there have been nearly 45,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut, an increase of 27 since Sunday.

Lamont said the state’s rate of positive tests is slightly above 1%. So far, there have been 4,263 COVID-associated deaths, an increase of three since Sunday. The number of hospitalizations has declined to 140, nine fewer than on Sunday.