CT Indoor Restaurant Reopening Date Firm: Lamont

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont won’t budge from the June 20 date to allow indoor dining. Among his reasoning was concern about protesters gathering and what that could mean for coronavirus infection rates.

“I want to be very careful before we open our restaurants and invite people from our whole region here,” he said.

The next two weeks will be telling about what the summer holds for coronavirus infection rates amid protests and places like casinos reopening, the governor said. The main worry is what the situation will be in the fall.

More than 500 restaurant owners signed a letter urging Lamont to move the indoor dining reopening date to June 10.

"I do worry a little bit that people get casual now," he said. "We are having to urge people to get tested."

The state reported another 148 positive coronavirus cases out of more than 5,000 tests, which translates into a less than 3 percent infection rate. The state has held below 5 percent for about a week, Lamont said. Connecticut saw another 18 reported COVID-19 deaths as well, which pushed the state to a grim milestone of 4,007 total reported deaths since the pandemic began.

A slew of businesses are scheduled to be allowed to reopen June 20 when the state’s second phase of reopening goes into effect; among them are movie theaters, indoor dining and gyms. The state will release specific guidelines on Monday, according to Lamont.

A recent study by the Yale School of Public Health warned that Connecticut could see a large resurgence of cases and deaths if it rapidly reopened and people’s contact with each other went back to pre-pandemic levels. Under a slow reopening scenario the state would see a slight increase in cases in the coming weeks, but would then taper off.

State COO Josh Geballe said that Lamont’s administration is confident the worst-case model could be avoided because businesses will have to abide by health guidelines and people would be wearing masks for the foreseeable future.

“We don’t see any of those extreme scenarios as likely but that’s again dependent on all of us doing our part,” he said.