Opening next: Indoor dining, movies, larger gatherings

Connecticut restaurants could open for indoor dining on June 20 and bars could reopen a month later under new state recommendations announced Wednesday.

The list of reopenings set for June 20 includes gyms, hotels and motels, movie theaters, museums and aquariums, nail and tattoo salons and amusement parks. All of it would be worked out with specific rules that have yet to be written.

On Wednesday, the first day of the state’s gradual reopening of so-called nonessential businesses, Gov. Ned Lamont stressed that people should stick to social distancing, which he expects law enforcement, health departments, mayors and first selectmen to enforce, or COVID-19 cases could increase and force a change of his plans in the gradual reopening to the new normal.

“Follow the rules,” La

mont said. “It’s a fastchanging situation. We’re got to be dynamic here. We have to be nimble.”

Events are now still limited to five people, or 50 for religious services. For social gatherings, that number might rise by June 20. For formal events, the plan calls for allowing up to 50 people on June 20, rising to 100 a month later.

Lamont’s Reopen CT Advisory Group presented the recommendations Wednesday for Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the state’s reopening.

“The process is going to be collaborative with these industries,” said David Lehman, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development and a key member of the reopening committee.

Lehman added that for events such as weddings that may rise to a limit of 50 on June 20, then 100 a month later, features such as crowded bars and buffets won’t return right away. “The dance floor might not be open,” he said. “I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer but we’re going to have to work with the industry.”

Other states, he said, are not now planning that far in advance.

During his daily news briefing from the State Capitol, Lamont said it’s still too early for people to plan Fourth of July parties for 50 people, who would be allowed to gather under Phase 2, targeted for June 20. But he said the rate of new hospitalizations over

the next two to three weeks should clarify whether the coronavirus pandemic has been stymied for at least the summer.

Lamont said he will release the advisory group’s final report within the next week or so. “Their No. 1 principle, our No. 1 principle, my No. 1 principle was public health and safety first,” Lamont said. “It’s not an economic versus health issue. The two go hand in hand as you’ve heard every step of the way, with particular focus on our most vulnerable residents.”

If the infection and hospitalization rates remain at current levels, Lamont said summer youth sports and public libraries could open June 20; children’s day camps on June 22; summer school on July 6; and graduate education in July and August.

The metrics that Lamont will watch early in Phase 1 include infection rates; the ability to perform contract tracing of infected people; continued business and social safeguards, protecting the vulnerable and the capacity of state hospitals.

“We worked at pandemic speed, if you want to use that word,” joked Indra Nooyi, the former president and CEO of PepsiCo who led the advisory group with Dr. Albert Ko and Paul Mounds, Lamont’s chief of staff. “It was a home run. It took five weeks of nonstop work.”

Ko, professor of epidemiology and medicine and department chair at the Yale School of Public Health, who co-chaired the advisory panel, said it seems that about 90 percent of COVID-19 cases come from person-to-person contact, with only 10 percent acquiring the infection by contacting other surfaces.

“Outdoors is safer than indoors,” Ko said, warning of the virus waning in the summer, with a potential surge in the fall. “This is a virus that’s not going to go away. This is going to be a hard fight.”

If the state can continue its downward trends in fatalities and hospitalizations, and if people can remain 6 feet apart in public wearing face masks, personal services such as tattoo and nail shops, gyms, movie theaters, bowling alleys and outdoor amusement parks could

open around June 20.

Even some amount of indoor dining could resume by then, with capacity restrictions that indoor locations would have to abide by. Social clubs, pools, museums and aquariums could also open by the third week in June, Lamont announced on the first day of Connecticut’s partial reopening.

Colleges and Universities, shuttered like much of the state since mid-March, will proceed carefully.

“We told the universities to expect opening up in September with residential housing, but as Dr. Ko says if there’s a change of course, we’ll give you about 30 days notice and you’ve got to be ready if there is a change there,” said Lamont.

Lamont also issued an executive order allowing Democrats and Republicans to use absentee ballots for their parties’ August 11 primaries. Senate Minority Len Fasano, RNorth Haven, objected. “The proposed process raises significant questions of constitutionality and questions related to the security of unattended drop boxes that would be used to collect ballots,” Fasano warned.

And while Lamont thanked the Reopen CT Advisory Group for their help plotting Connecticut’s post-pandemic strategy on Wednesday, the 50-member group is unlikely to go too far away.

After a two-hour teleconference on Wednesday morning, advisory group members said they expect Lamont to call upon their help in the future, even as a Boston-based consultant to

the seven-state region takes more of a role in the nutsand-bolts daily work of slowly reopening the state.

“We start Phase 1 now and it all depends on how it goes,” said Timothy Phelan, the president of the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association, following the two-hour morning call. “They plan on keeping the lines of communication open with us.”

While there were very few early reports from his members, Phelan said he understands that merchants with multiple store locations seem to be focusing on single locations.

“If everybody does, basically, what they’re been doing - following social distancing guidelines, wearing masks, and washing hands - we should get to Phase 2,” Phelan said in a phone interview.

While Lamont this week issued an executive order setting June 20 as a date for gyms and movie theaters to reopen, he said Tuesday that the date is only a benchmark on the calendar that depends entirely on how the public reacts to the long-awaited Wednesday opening of many retail stores and outdoor-dining only in restaurants.

Another advisory group member, Joseph Brennan, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said he also expects the governor to continue reaching out for expertise. “I will continue to weigh in with the appropriate people,” said Brennan.

John Olsen, a member of the business subcommittee of the Reopen CT Advisory Group, was optimistic about the state’s ability to adhere to the procedures to keep infections down.

“My feelings, no matter what you put out there, you still have to have a mechanism in place to keep people aware,” Olsen said. “Hopefully we can keep everybody with a good attitude and make sure they’re following all these protocols that are out there and we don’t blame all the workers and stores.”

Olsen said many people he knows are concerned about the reopening of indoor dining, on track now for June 20. “That’s a challenge I think is going to have a lot to do with the public,” he said. “As you go through the first stage, people watch, they see how people are reacting, we’ll start to know how that might be.”

Legislators met with members of the governors staff Wednesday ahead of Lamont’s press briefing, and were told about the elements of phases two and three. They were not included in creating the phases.

“We provided some input, but I think everyone is doing their best,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. “This is an imperfect situation and everyone is trying to make the best decisions they can. Outside of a few loud voices people understand the need to reopen slowly and the need to put public health and public safety first. Most people are very conscious of this new situation we’re in, and no one has every experienced this before.”

Lamont