CT Colleges Reopen Safely With Masks, Frequent Coronavirus Tests

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont, Public Health and higher education officials shared a victory lap Wednesday as they touted the reopening of colleges and universities across the state.

Speaking at a news conference on the campus of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, where classes had just begun for the fall semester, Lamont said: "All of our colleges are coming back safely."

The governor said that he began planning the reopening of the state university system back in April, alongside Mark Ojakian, the president of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, distance learning specialists, public health officials and other experts.

"I don't think education will ever be the same again," Lamont said, commenting upon the new ways that information technology is being integrated into classrooms.

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Connecticut state schools have had to create a slate of online courses superior to what they had offered previously, according to Zulma Toro, president of Central Connecticut State University.

"We have done an outstanding job with the commitment of the faculty, they have been willing to be part of the process, willing to be part of the solution, and have developed themselves into better teachers," she said.

The governor said that all the public health experts with whom he had spoken felt "very confident" reopening grades K-8 with no remote learning, "and I look around the world and I see they have been able to do that safely." He pointed to the Bethel Public Schools, which had run a successful summer program as a trial run, as proof.

Lamont said that some experts contended that in-school learning for those grades was safer than the hybrid attendance model, as the cohorts were more effectively managed.

The inability to maintain cohorts in high school made the hybrid model the more reasonable choice for grades 9-12, Lamont said.

Creating a safe protocol for colleges was "more complex" still, said the governor, because "you are attracting students from 40 different states and 40 different countries."

Lamont commended the state schools on their safety protocols, which include the now familiar mandatory mask wearing, social distancing maintenance, and frequent testing and deep-cleaning, noting the student populations had a lower COVID-19 positivity rate then the state's own 1 percent.

"But now we've got to keep it that way, and let the students understand what is expected of them," Lamont said, pointing to the "flare-ups" he has seen on other campuses around the country.

"Look, I don't want to be Governor Killjoy... but we're going to have to work hard to keep our colleges opened safely."

Lamont cited the state's swift action last week to issue a COVID-19 advisory for Danbury that delayed the reopening of schools there as his administration's commitment to "putting public health first."

Rhona Free, president of the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, speaking on behalf of the CT Council of Independent Colleges, said the state was one of the few in the country mandating both a prearrival negative test for all residential students, and ongoing surveillance testing. She praised Lamont for "prioritizing the reopening of higher education and putting together a strong team that issued comprehensive guidelines months ago."

The governor acknowledged that circumstances weren't perfect, but said that if he waited until campuses were one hundred percent safe, "your kids would never get back to school.