Lamont Clarifies Coronavirus Testing, Talks Racial Justice Issues

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont expressed his dismay over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer. He said during a WNPR radio interview that Connecticut still has work to be done to assure equality.

Lamont thanked protesters for overwhelmingly remaining peaceful over the weekend.

The governor said he has worked to make his administration reflect the diversity of the state and that he made recruiting teachers of color and men to teaching positions. He would still like to see more diversity among judges, teachers and law enforcement officers; the state still has a long way to go toward those goals, he said.

“I want police to be part of the community,” he said. “...and if there are bad actors or bad incidents we just don’t deal with it, but we deal with it much more expeditiously, I’m saddened by the slow wheels of justice sometimes.”

Coronavirus testing

Lamont clarified that asymptomatic testing at this point is only being done for health care workers, those in nursing homes and first responders. Asymptomatic testing will be expanded “very soon,” he said.

Lamont was asked by two callers about asymptomatic testing. One man over the age of 70 said he didn’t believe he had the virus, but wanted to be sure as he still goes out shopping. Another caller expressed confusion about who can get testing, especially if they go to a CVS location.

“We’ve gone from doing you know 20 [tests] a day to doing 6,000 a day, and we will be up to 12,000 a day and then I’ll be able to say anybody gets tested virtually anytime.” he said.

Asymptomatic testing will especially be important as students go back to residential colleges for the fall semester, Lamont said.

There still needs to be outreach work done to convince people to get tested, he said, pointing to how the New Haven Green had a pop-up testing event where only 35 people got tested despite there being capacity for more than 100 tests a day. Testing is free for anyone with or without insurance, including undocumented immigrants, Lamont said.

The state will help people who test positive and need a place to stay away from family members or roommates, Lamont said.

Sleep away camps no-go this summer

Lamont also clarified during the show that sleep away summer camps won’t happen this year. His reasoning was that a decision couldn’t be made until July in order to get more data on how reopening is affecting infection rates. Unfortunately, camps needed the decision now in order to get things ready.

“I can’t give you the green light now, so we’re not going to have a sleep away camps this summer,” he said.

Listen to Lamont's full interview here.