The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Lamont gives locals COVID power
Municipal leaders can make mask rules
Gov. Ned Lamont is empowering municipal leaders to establish their own universal mask mandates as COVID infections continue to climb amid the spread of the delta variant.
Lamont has stopped short of requiring all people to wear masks indoors, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated, but is now offering municipal officials the power to decide for themselves.
Through an executive order issued Thursday evening, Lamont enabled local leaders as well as business owners and the leaders of other organizations to set their own universal mask requirements.
The order also requires unvaccinated workers in nursing homes to submit to weekly testing for COVID-19
Lamont’s directive means municipalities, businesses and private establishments like restaurants and grocery stores can “require masks to be worn by everyone inside of their own facilities,” the governor’s office said.
In a statement, the governor applauded the state’s vaccination rate, but said some “pockets” of the state are lagging behind others.
“Some leaders in those areas have
Delta comprised more than 88 percent of cases sequenced within the past three weeks, according to the latest report from the Yale School of Public Health. Alpha, a highly infectious strain that was previously dominant in the state and around the U.S., now makes up less than 1 percent of cases sequenced.
requested the option of requiring everyone to wear masks until they can get their vaccination rates higher,” Lamont said. “While I continue to strongly advise that everyone wear masks while inside of public locations as recommended by the CDC, I urge everyone to get vaccinated because it’s the best thing you can do to protect yourself from this ongoing virus.”
The move comes amid sizable gaps in the overall number of people vaccinated from one town to the next. While many smaller, suburban municipalities have reached high levels of vaccinations among residents, cities and some rural towns are still lagging behind.
More than 70 percent of residents statewide have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A little under 64 percent are fully vaccinated, the data shows.
In Sterling, Thompson, Hartford and New Britain, meanwhile, less than half of residents have received at least a first dose of vaccine, state data shows. And for a vast swath of the state’s eastern rural area, first-dose vaccination rates hover below 60 percent. Meanwhile, a handful of smaller towns report 80 percent or more of their residents have started vaccination.
Many municipal leaders said Thursday they were not yet ready to enact broad mask mandates. Though Lamont has not issued a new mandate, the state Department of Public Health now “strongly recommends” that people across Connecticut wear masks indoors.
The new guidance came last week in response to the CDC reporting “substantial” community transmission of the virus throughout Connecticut. On Thursday, the CDC elevated New Haven County to “high” community spread.
Lamont has said he does not plan to issue a mandate similar to New York City that would require proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, gyms and venues. He also has said he does not think a general vaccine mandate is necessary at this time.
In late spring and early summer, Connecticut was experiencing pandemic lows for infection rates and COVID hospitalizations, but the delta variant’s spread has driven up cases in July and early August.
On Thursday, the state reported a daily positivity rate of 2.72 percent for new COVID tests. Hospitalizations fell by a net of eight patients for a total of 155. There were three additional COVID-related deaths reported in the last week.
Delta comprised more than 88 percent of cases sequenced within the past three weeks, according to the latest report from the Yale School of Public Health. Alpha, a highly infectious strain that was previously dominant in the state and around the U.S., now makes up less than 1 percent of cases sequenced. Gamma, the variant first found in Brazil, comprised a little more than 3 percent of cases, while the remaining roughly 8 percent of cases sequenced were not considered variants of concern or interest.
The delta variant is believed to be about twice as infectious as the original strain of the novel coronavirus first detected in Wuhan.
The CDC now also believes vaccinated people who become infected with delta can have as much of the virus in their nose and throat as unvaccinated people. That means vaccinated people may be able to spread the strain to unvaccinated people or medically vulnerable people, experts said.
That conclusion, drawn from examining data from large outbreaks connected with gatherings in Cape Cod, is part of what led the CDC to revise its guidance and recommend vaccinated people wear masks inside where the virus is spreading rapidly. A handful of Connecticut cases have also been connected with the outbreaks in Massachusetts.
Facing repeated questions over how the state will act to stop the spread of this highly transmissible variant, Lamont has said he does not think sweeping mandates are needed given the high percentage of people vaccinated and the still relatively low infection rate.
He appears poised to adopt more focused mandates, including giving municipalities the power to enact specific requirements.
Thursday’s order will also require nursing home workers to be tested weekly for the virus if they have not been vaccinated. The order moves up the effective date of a new law enacted over the summer, which allows the state Department of Public Health to require regular testing of an infectious disease during an outbreak. The governor’s office said Acting Commissioner Deidre Gifford plans to require weekly testing of unvaccinated staff.
“It’s really important because you know what happened to nursing homes 16 months ago,” Lamont said earlier in the day. “We look around the country, we see that in some rare cases there is some breakthrough. We know that many of the nurses still aren’t vaccinated and they’re going into these vulnerable communities.”
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities quickly became hotspots for the spread of the virus early in the pandemic. Through July 21, there have been more than 8,700 confirmed cases at nursing homes and roughly 2,800 deaths, state data shows.
Acting DPH Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford was also meeting teacher representatives on Thursday to discuss how to get as many educators vaccinated as possible.
But Lamont does not think a requirement for teachers was going to be announced in the near future.
“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Lamont said. “It’s controversial.”