Lamont defers enforcement of $100 mask fine to local control
You’re unlikely to get fined $100 the first time you’re caught without a mask in public around Connecticut, as leaders continue to fight the stifling effects of the coronavirus.
No leader wants to aggravate an already crippling crisis, municipal officials agreed on Wednesday.
But get caught a second or third time not wearing your mask, and it may be a different story.
“Our mantra is to always try to deescalate the situation — and we’re not looking to give anybody a hard time — but on the other hand, if you habitually run around without a mask, you’re going to get a ticket,” said Mayor Mark Boughton of Danbury, where new COVID-19 cases have been rising at a higher rate than anywhere in the state.
Boughton’s New Haven counterpart agrees.
“Our COVID inspection team has been working hard to identify instances where compliance with COVID guidance isn’t being followed (and) in nearly every case, when people and establishments are given a warning, they then comply,” said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. “We are always reluctant to fine, but if we deem it necessary, we will do so.”
The mayors are reacting to the latest move by Gov. Ned Lamont to add fines for not complying with his emergency coronavirus containment orders. Now anyone attending an over-populated event can be fined $250, and anyone organizing an event of more than 25 people indoors or more than 100 people outdoors can be fined $500.
The fines, which are designed to crack down on back-to-school infection spikes that are driving Connecticut’s case rate higher than it’s been all summer, give police in Trumbull another tool to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
“The mask is protecting your health, and other people’s health, and you know, you could be fined,” said Trumbull police Lt. Brian Weir. “So as long as they follow the rule and put a mask on, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Not all leaders agree that the fines are necessary, even as a last resort. Top elected officials in Darien and Shelton say the situation in their towns doesn’t warrant such enforcement. And in Lamont’s hometown of Greenwich, a proposed ordinance has been floated to leave mask wearing to the discretion of private businesses.
Lamont on Wednesday said he accepted the uneven response to the fines, explaining that he is entrusting enforcement to local control.
“Levying a fine based upon (not) wearing a mask or having a big, out-of-control party … is just another arrow in your quiver,” Lamont said during a press conference at Middletown City Hall on Wednesday. “I think it’s good to give people local control.”
Protestors let Lamont know how much they objected to his fines by heckling him at a Berlin groundbreaking on Wednesday.
“If you think being incredibly rude is helping your cause, you’re wrong,” Lamont said to the hecklers at the event, livestreamed by Connecticut Network.
The protestors responded by asking Lamont who in attendance would get fined $500 for exceeding the 100-person outdoor assembly limit.
“We’re in the middle of a COVID crisis and we’ll get through this, but that doesn’t mean our growth and opportunity don’t keep going,” Lamont said. “We have tens of thousands of people who have changed their addresses to Connecticut over the last three-to-four months — tens of thousands — that’s a vote of confidence in Connecticut.”
Masks, which have become a contentious national issue, were required by Lamont’s executive order in mid-May to prevent a second outbreak of the highly contagious respiratory virus. Masks became a centerpiece of the state’s back-toschool plan as a best practice to prevent new infections.
In mid-August, two parents of school kids and a Ridgefield-based group called the CT Freedom Alliance filed a legal complaint challenging the state education department’s decision to require face coverings for students in school.
A state spokesman told Hearst Connecticut Media that he would not comment on the case. But he did have a message for Connecticut.
“Masks keep people safe,” said Peter Yazbak, a spokesman for the Department of Education “Please wear your mask.” Local leaders agree. “Compliance with executive orders has generally been very good in Wilton,” First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice said on Wednesday. “We are hopeful we won’t need to issue fines but recognize our ability to do so.”
“I’m going to take it to court,” she said.
In Connecticut, there have been a total of more than 55,000 documented COVID-19 cases and nearly 4,500 deaths, and 70 patients who are now hospitalized with the disease, according to state data released Wednesday.
Gatherings in the state are capped at 25 people indoors and 100 outdoors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mask use in public, as it can help the virus from spreading from one person to another, especially when the coverings are widely used. Health experts have said masks mostly serve as a protection for others around the person wearing the face covering.
But some Connecticut residents have mixed reactions