CT Joins 6-State Reopening Council For Coronavirus Epidemic

CONNECTICUT — The governors of seven states, including Connecticut, announced a plan to work together to slowly reopen the economy in the wake of the new coronavirus. The group was organized by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and will include New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Massachusetts announced it would join as well.

Cuomo noted that each state's situation was different, including differences between regions of states, but that working and learning from each other was imperative because the virus doesn't care about state borders. Cuomo said he believed that his state has reached a plateau in cases where the rate of increase has slowed. New Jersey and Connecticut's peaks are expected in the coming weeks.

“We have been collaborating closely with our neighboring states to combat this pandemic through a uniform approach to social distancing and density reduction and it has been working well," Cuomo said. "Now it is time to start opening the valve slowly and carefully while watching the infection rate meter so we don’t trigger a second wave of new infections."

No specific timeline was given for when businesses could reopen.

The governors of Washington state, Oregon and California also announced Monday that they would share a regional approach to reopening their economies.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday morning that it was his decision alone about when states would reopen.

Working together will help avoid a false start, which could lead to a second major resurgence of the virus and even more economic harm, Gov. Ned Lamont said.

"I’m looking over at Japan and Hong Kong and Singapore and those places are unfortunately seeing a small resurgence ... that would be so demoralizing for our economies," Lamont said.

The Tri-state area represents a commuter corridor, but it also is the “COVID corridor,” Lamont said.

Senate Republican leader Len Fasano wrote a letter to Lamont urging him to have a flexible strategy for Connecticut since each county is experiencing the virus differently.

"I am glad to see you taking a step toward discussing how to relax regulations and reopen businesses in our state when safe to do so," Fasano wrote. "More than anything, we need a plan that is tailored to Connecticut and that reflects input from Connecticut residents and regions across the state. We need much more than a one-size-fits-all approach."

"All parts of this state and region are very different and we are going to act on our own," Lamont said at a later news conference.

Each state will have its governor’s chief of staff, an economic official and a public health official on the working group. Together the states represent about 46 million people.

Several of the governors on the call said that the choice between public health and the economy was a false choice.

"You only get an economic recovery if it comes on the back of a health care recovery," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. "The house is still on fire, we still have to put the fire out."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said that the plan would also help give people hope about returning to a semblance of normalcy.

"I think we are going to show the people of the United States how you come out of something as devastating as this in a responsible fashion," Wolf said.

See also: CT Power Outages Town-By-Town; Coronavirus Test Sites Closed

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