Lamont: No mask? Let’s see your doctor’s note
NEW HAVEN — No mask? Bring a doctor’s note.
People in Connecticut who claim they can’t wear a mask due to a medical condition must be able to produce documentation to prove it, the governor’s office has announced.
The new rule was formalized in an executive order signed Friday by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. Gov. Ned Lamont earlier in the week had said the new regulation would be coming.
The documentation “need not name or describe the condition that qualifies the person for the exemption,” according to the order, but it states individuals need to be able to provide “written documentation that the person is qualified for the exemption from a licensed medical provider, the Department of Developmental Services or other state agency that provides or supports services for people with emotional, intellectual or physical disabilities.”
Lamont in April issued the original order requiring people to wear masks in public places when social distancing is not possible in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. That order included a medical exemption, but did not require proof.
Officials in announcing the new rule noted noncompliance with previous mask requirements, and COVID-19 infection clusters that have sprung up as the result of people attending parties held in excess of gathering limits or “in violation of requirements to wear face coverings or masks.”
The order also cites “reports from the municipal level that ‘some people who refuse to wear a mask have falsely claimed a medical reason for doing so, and that some organizations philosophically opposed to these scientifically proven public health protections have urged their members or those attending protests to claim a medical exemption.”
The order also empowers the Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development to “establish size limits for private gatherings of people who do not live in the same household, regardless of whether such gathering has been organized by a business.”
Officials with Lamont’s office said in a release that the measure “builds upon the Lamont administration’s efforts to encourage mitigation strategies that slow down transmission of COVID-19,” noting that it is the 66th such executive order signed during the pandemic.