Partial reopening on horizon

If certain conditions are met, some businesses will be allowed to resume operations May 20

Gov. Ned Lamont’s task force on reopening Connecticut has proposed a four-stage plan that allows restaurants and businesses to begin to return to normal operations starting May 20 as long as essential criteria are met to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Before reopening can start key conditions must be met, including a 14-day decline in hospitalizations, increased testing, sufficient contact tracing, protection for those at highest risk, adequate protective equipment and hospital capacity and sufficient social distancing protocols.

Broken into four levels of restrictiveness, the plan prepared by the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group hinges on a system of scoring based on factors including contact proximity, contact length, number of contacts, disinfection and social distancing within each reopening businesses. During the first stage, masks will be required for most activities.

“It’s up to the locals, we are just saying you have a green light to open if you want to,” Lamont said. “Nobody is obviously required to

go. I think a lot of people are going to self-select. I’m finding in Georgia and Oklahoma, people are not going back quickly and all stores are not opening quickly. A lot of them, certainly in the more urban areas, are slower to open just because they don’t feel confident yet.”

The following businesses would be allowed to reopen on May 20:

Restaurants

Eateries would be limited to outdoor seating with no access to their bars. Lamont said restaurants are a “big piece” of the service economy and have an impact on employment and bringing cities back to life, but also pose risks for virus spread.

Retail stores

This would include smaller stores that can be found in downtown areas across the state. Lamont cited examples like toy stores, shoe stores and jewelry shops.

Offices

For offices, Lamont’s task force recommends employees continue to work from home where possible. Officials said they recognize that there is some need for a group of employees to go back into offices.

Nail and hair salons

Lamont acknowledged that he knows how important hair and nail salons are to people and said he knows it’s “getting a little awkward.” He said people are not flooding into these businesses in the states where they have reopened, giving leaders confidence they can loosen the restrictions.

Museums and zoos

These establishments would be limited to outdoor areas only.

Lamont said he has heard from leaders in this industry who say they are comfortable opening up with those restrictions in place.

Outdoor recreation

Additional outdoor recreation including campsites and mountain biking would also reopen. Lamont said the state has not closed its state parks and this measure is meant to broaden what is allowed during the pandemic.

University research

The state’s universities operate substantial research efforts that contribute important funding to the schools and employ many people.

Those businesses represent roughly 30% of the more than 430,000 unemployment claims that have been filed in Connecticut since the start of the pandemic. Officials could not say Thursday how many employees will return to work when the restrictions are lifted.

“It’s too early to talk about how many people will go back, because it’s the consumer demand, and if Georgia is any example, consumers are staying away,” said Indra Nooyi, the former PepsiCo CEO and co-chair of the state’s reopening task force. “We’ll have to figure out how to do a marketing program to bring consumers back into these establishments. I think about three or four weeks after reopening, we should have some idea as to what percentage of people are going back to work and not claiming unemployment benefits.”

Nooyi said restrictions could be lifted further in a month or more if positive trends continue.

“After we get about four to six weeks of experience after May 20, we can start looking to see if there’s time to start talking about phase two,” she said. “This is baby steps, we have to tiptoe our way through this.”