Lamont Wants To See CT School Mask Mandate Extended: Here's Why

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont said he hopes that the order requiring children to wear masks inside school buildings can be extended.

The governor made his remarks to reporters following an unrelated news conference on Tuesday.

The school mask mandate is currently set to expire Sept. 30, along with the 90-extension of his emergency powers, granted him by the state legislature over the summer.

Lamont would like to see those powers extended as well.

"We need an extension of the emergency orders because that allows me to put in place executive orders we need to keep people safe," according to the governor.

Lamont said that another 90-day extension of his powers, if even in some watered-down form, is merited. If he gets his way, it would be the sixth time legislators grant the governor an extension.

"We've got not just delta, but mu. We’ve got flu season. The flu is coming up from the southern states. I think we'll know a lot more in six weeks," Lamont said.

Researchers believe the mu variant, the newest COVID-19 mutation, might prove even more transmissible and resilient than the delta variant against existing vaccines. Connecticut, with 73 mu cases reported as of Saturday, has one of the nation’s highest rates of the new variant, fourth in the nation behind Alaska, Hawaii and Maine, according to Hartford HealthCare.

Lamont said he welcomed input from lawmakers, but needed the current emergency powers system in place due to the swift actions still dictated by the pandemic.

"Going forward, if I needed a new executive order as regards to booster shoots for people over age of 65 and how we implement that, I'll propose an executive order, it'll go to the legislative leaders and they’ll have 72 hours to vote up or down,” Lamont said

Don't Call It A Vaccine Passport

Connecticut Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe clarified comments Lamont made during a news conference Monday regarding an electronic vaccine certification system. The governor said the state is working on the smartphone app to assist businesses in determining the coronavirus infection status of their employees and patrons.

Don't call it a passport, Geballe said.

"We're talking about giving an individual ... a tool to show they have been vaccinated." Geballe described the technology as a digital wallet that has been verified by the state Department of Public Health. Its place as an app on a smartphone would make it more convenient for residents to produce to businesses that required vaccine verification, and less likely to be lost than the paper card currently presented to patients post-jab.

The daily coronavirus positivity in the state took a huge jump on Tuesday. According to the latest data from the Department of Public Health, the rate was 4.21 percent, up 1.87 percent from Monday, on the basis of 1,050 positive cases found in 24,923 tests.

Hospitalizations also climbed overnight, up 11 beds for a total of 338. Most of those are laid up in Hartford County (109), followed by New Haven County (84).

Just over 72 percent of the newly hospitalized coronavirus patients are not fully vaccinated.

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