Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to Gov. Ned Lamont signaling a potential end to the mask mandate in schools. We’re not there yet, but Lamont said it’s possible the mandate
could be lifted as more children are vaccinated. With plans underway to vaccinate students between ages 5 and 11, the burden could fall on parents to get the numbers up by approving the shots. Lamont’s office added that a vaccine mandate for students is “nowhere near the horizon.”
Thumbs up to a continuing economic recovery in Connecticut, even as the numbers show we still have a long way to go. The state added 4,700 jobs in
September as the unemployment rate fell from 7.2 percent in August to 6.8 percent. Connecticut remains 86,000 jobs short of its levels at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, though numbers have gone up in nine straight months. There’s no shortage of open jobs, business leaders say, but the labor shortage is acute, and holding back the local economy. It’s a problem that will need to be solved before a real recovery can take hold.
Thumbs down to the gap in costs for trauma care revealed since the prices became transparent under law. There is good news here. The figures
went public after lawmakers sought a way to respond to reports of a wide disparity in fees at different hospitals. Illustrating the power of transparency, Stamford Health, for example, has dramatically dropped its fees. Such a fee could reach $21,000 in Stamford two years ago, but has topped out at about $9,000 in 2021. This doesn’t mean the work is done for lawmakers, who should explore other possible solutions.
Thumbs up to Danielle Weber, a Bridgeport
resident who teaches at the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering in Stamford. Weber has been honored as a teacher of the year by Project Lead the Way, which provides STEM curriculum and training for teachers to use in classrooms. Weber, who has taught at AITE for 13 years, was honored with one of the six national awards for her work in biomedical science. It is particularly noteworthy that Weber pulled off the honor in a year when lab use was limited by the pandemic.
Thumbs down to an elevated lack of compliance with Gov. Ned Lamont’s vaccine mandate at the state Department of Correction. As of Friday, about 9
percent of the department, the highest of any in state government, was not in compliance with the mandate that they either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or take weekly tests. That amounts to 483 workers, many of whom have close contact with other people as a part of their workday. Vaccines are safe, free and widely available, and they help prevent the spread of a deadly disease that has killed thousands of people in Connecticut. Mandates are proving effective at getting more people vaccinated, but as the latest numbers show, there’s more to be done.
Thumbs up to the state’s first electric school bus. ACES Transportation in North Haven recently replaced an older diesel bus with a 2021 electric-powered
equivalent. It seats 71, and could be the first step in replacing the entire fleet. With transportation playing an outsized role in the state’s failure to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets, a transition to electric vehicles is an important step forward. But it’s not just about personal vehicles. Moving to electric buses would be good for the environment, and could prove a money-saver in the long run.