Group of Democratic Connecticut state senators implore governor to delay reopening

A group of Democratic state senators in Connecticut have written to Gov. Ned Lamont (D), urging him to delay his plans to begin reopening the state’s economy.

In a letter obtained by the Hartford Courant, the nine lawmakers noted that the state is still experiencing a rate of new coronavirus infections five times higher than it was recording on the day Lamont issued his executive order closing barber shops and hair salons, along with other nonessential businesses.

“We are writing to urge you to delay your plans to phase out Connecticut’s COVID-19 restrictions starting May 20,” they wrote.

“While Connecticut is moving in the right direction in terms of testing capacity, hospitalizations and deaths, the number of new positive tests, while down from the peak, indicates that community transmission of COVID-19 is still occurring in Connecticut at levels far beyond our ability to track, trace and isolate potential contacts,” the senators continued. “Moreover, Connecticut has still not implemented widescale testing of essential workers, let alone of the population as a whole, nor do we have a statewide track and trace system in place or universal testing of our most vulnerable populations in congregate settings.”

Connecticut has reported more than 34,000 cases of coronavirus across the state so far, and just over 3,100 deaths have been recorded.

The letter’s signatories included state Sen. Saud Anwar (D), who holds a master’s degree in public health from Yale and previously served as the chair of the department of internal medicine with Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals.

Lamont did not address the letter directly at a news conference Thursday related to the state’s efforts against COVID-19, but contended that officials had struck the correct balance between public health and economic concerns.

“Can we always do more? Yeah,” Lamont said, according to the Courant. “I appreciate the ongoing concern that people have, but I think we’ve got the right balance going forward right now. I think you have a sense that we put public health and public safety first and foremost. Whatever we do we’re doing very cautiously.”