CT Coronavirus: Home And Family Gatherings Are The New Focus

CONNECTICUT —When it comes to the spread of the coronavirus across the state, Gov. Ned Lamont said he is now most worried about "informal social interactions."

When asked what plans the state had to curb the spread of the virus at home and family gatherings over Thanksgiving, where health officials fear "clusters" of infection will spawn and propagate, the governor made it clear what he would not do:

"I can't do this by fiat. I can't say we are going to knock on a door and fine someone for not wearing a mask. That's ridiculous."

Lamont made his comments Monday morning as a guest on "Where We Live" on radio station WNPR, with host Lucy Nalpathanchil.

Connecticut has one of the best track records in the country for residents following recommendations from health officials on how to curb the spread of the virus, according to the governor.

But people are still people.

"There are going to be clusters," Lamont said. "There are 'bad actors' out there, bars masquerading as restaurants. That's why we put in place a 9:30 curfew for 'last call.'"

Lamont tightened restrictions on restaurants' capacity and hours of operation at the beginning of this month.

When asked if he would consider rolling back regulations even further and closing indoor dining, Lamont said, "Nothing is off the table."

"We're doing everything we can to allow the restaurants to keep going, but it will be determined by the metrics, and we will take a second look every week or so," he said.

The governor does not see the state headed for another complete lockdown, as schools, businesses and retail operations are "more than likely to follow the protocols" now than they were in the spring. Hospitals and health care agencies also have a much better supply of personal protection equipment, including N-95 masks, than they had in the spring, according to Lamont.

As schools prepare to close their doors for a Thanksgiving break that, for an increasing number of them, won't see them reopen until mid-January, Lamont said staff reductions due to quarantining have become a major problem in the state.

"The biggest issue we are going to have in schools is not a high infection rate, it's staffing issues," Lamont said.

Each time a coronavirus case is uncovered in a school, the infected must quarantine for 14 days.

Lamont said the state is rolling out rapid response testing which will enable health officials to determine within 15 minutes if someone's symptoms are due to influenza or COVID-19, "So at least we won't have to have people unnecessarily quarantining."

The federal government is supplying the state with 75,000 test kits a week, and these are being distributed to schools.

Lamont said the state is also looking into recruiting students from teaching colleges to fill the gaps being created by teachers on quarantine.

Many of the logistics problems with COVID-19 tests and quarantines become moot with the availability of a vaccine.

Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company Moderna said Monday its COVID-19 virus vaccine is proving to be highly effective in a major trial. That announcement came one week after rival Pfizer announced its own COVID-19 virus vaccine appeared similarly effective. Both companies are now on track to seek permission within weeks for emergency use in the U.S.

But distribution of a vaccine has logistics problems of its own, Lamont said.

"We're going to have several vaccine options by the first quarter of next year, maybe as early as January," Lamont said. "But it will be complicated in terms of how you get this distributed. Some have to be stored at a hundred degrees below zero, some require two shots, not just one. We may find that Moderna works better on one demographic, and Pfizer works better on a different demographic." Lamont says the state is working with Walgreens and CVS to put together a distribution system "to track all that."

There were 2,746 new coronavirus cases announced Thursday — the highest single-day total since the pandemic started.