Masks In Schools Required In Connecticut, Lamont Says

Bethel CT

17 August, 2021

3:06 PM

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CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont signaled there would be no immediate end to his executive order mandating the wearing of masks in schools, but doubled-down against imposing any new statewide mask mandate. The order is scheduled to remain in effect through Sept. 30. The rise in hospitalizations and infection rates has caused some towns and cities to require the vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated to mask up when inside a store, restaurant or any publicly accessible venue. But Lamont said he prefers to incentivize people to get jabbed, rather than penalize them if they do not. Schools, he said, were a different story. "Right now our existing executive order says, 'everybody in school wears a mask, K through 12.' At this point, I don't see that changing," the governor said. Lamont noted that his order requiring all staff and students to be masked while inside school buildings, regardless of their vaccination status, set the right tone for the first month of the new semester. "Getting our schools off on the right footing makes the most sense," Lamont said. "I see some of the problems they're having down in the southerns states where the kids are not wearing masks, and they're forced to quarantine, and the teachers are getting ill, and we're not going to let that happen in Connecticut." The governor made his remarks during a press conference Tuesday in New Haven.Lamont praised restaurants and businesses who were imposing tighter mask restrictions on the vaccinated, as "I think it's working right now." Overnight the hospitalizations for COVID-19 rose by 36, according to the latest numbers released by the state Department of Public Health. That brings the number of beds occupied by coronavirus patients in the state to 321. Connecticut's daily coronavirus positivity rate climbed to 4.25 percent, based on 16,485 tests yielding 700 new cases. The total of laboratory-confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases reported among Connecticut residents is now 364,298. According to the CDC, roughly 82 percent of Connecticut residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine. See Also: Police Charge 14-Year-Old Boy In Mall Shooting 'Not A Normal Situation': Families Rally For Remote LearningPolice Seeking Man Who Attacked Donut Shop Employee