The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Lamont: State deserves a B+ for compliance, down from A-
Connecticut residents, who in recent weeks have enjoyed some of the lowest infection rates in the country, might be getting complacent in the campaign against the coronavirus, Gov. Ned Lamont warned on Thursday.
“I’m a relatively tough grader. I think a month ago I gave us more of a A-minus,” Lamont said. “Today I think it’s more like a Bplus.”
Lamont, during his daily virtual news briefing, said the downgrade — and more important, the danger — reflects more lax social distancing and mask wearing in the summer weather.
The delay he ordered this week in Phase 3 reopenings for bars, expanded indoor dining and the outright cancellation of all sleepaway summer camps, is out of extreme caution as COVID cases surge throughout most of the nation, the governor said.
“It reminds you of what a thin margin of error we do have,” Lamont said, adding local elected officials from throughout the state told him on a recent call about a number of large events.
“It’s not Lake of the Ozarks-type parties, but they were parties where you could potentially have some real risks there. So we’re watching that carefully and reminding everybody to wear the mask,” he said.
Hospital admissions appear to be holding steady at about 20 patients per day, statewide, as discharges have brought the number of people hospitalized to 90 as of Thursday.
On April 22, there were 1,972 people hospitalized. Lamont noted that in the Florida outbreak of the virus, 48 hospitals have reached their capacity with COVID-19 patients.
The state reported five additional fatalities, bringing the total since March 17 to 4,348.
“It’s a sad, lingering number,” Lamont said.
Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer, said that state health officials are working hard to get the message out about safety measures.
“When we’re all out and about, you know I think we see varying levels of compliance with the governor’s executive order on wearing face coverings,” he said.
He said that in the Southern states that have become the epicenter’s of the new nationwide flareups, people usually do not adhere to the practice of using face coverings.
“I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that really makes a huge difference,” Geballe said, stressing the need to target younger people, who in states where the virus is spreading seem to not adhere to the public-health procedure.
Acting Public Health
Commissioner Deidre Gifford said that outdoors, more people don’t keep the recommended six feet of distance from others, and don’t always masks.
“Wearing a face covering is something we do for one another,” Gifford said. “It provides use some personal protection from a droplet or an aerosolized virus, but mostly it prevents us who may be spreading the virus from spreading it to someone else. Wearing a face covering whenever you’re in a group is probably one of the most important things we can do to respect one another, to care for one another and to make sure that Connecticut avoids a second wave.”