Gov. Ned Lamont is eying November as when Connecticut might be able to put the Covid-19 crisis more or less behind it.
“I think November”™s going to be a really key month for us,” the governor said during his keynote address at Wednesday”™s 33rd annual Stamford Chamber of Commerce meeting. “By the end of November we should know if we”™re turning the corner on the pandemic.”
Speaking via Zoom to about 25 socially distanced people at Stamford”™s Residence Inn by Marriott, Lamont said that the state expects to receive its first shipment of Abbott Laboratories”™ 5-minute Covid test next week, which will begin to be deployed to schools soon after. Results are available within 90 seconds, he said.
Lamont further expressed confidence that a vaccine will be available by year”™s end, though he said that it probably will not be widely available until the second quarter of 2021. “We will only release it when it is safe and effective,” he declared, adding that overcoming some residents”™ “vaccine hesitancy” could be a challenge.
Since instituting the first phase of Connecticut”™s reopening on May 20 ”“ the third phase goes into effect on Oct. 8 ”“ Lamont said that about 98% of the state, representing about 88% of its GDP, is back online. He noted, however, that the unemployment rate remains in the 12% to 13% range ”“ a disconnect he attributed to so many of the unemployed coming from the services sector.
Lamont also allowed that the state”™s Covid infection rate and hospitalizations have “crept up” over the past few weeks. As of last night, there were 104 hospitalizations, 23 of them in Fairfield County ”“ a number the governor described as the most at a given time over the past few months. Still, he said, both numbers are among the lowest in the country.
He also touted the state”™s Shared Work program, which allows employees to keep their jobs at a reduced schedule, keep their benefits, and file for partial unemployment benefits for the lost wages. “It”™s employment insurance rather than unemployment insurance,” Lamont said, adding that the move should help restaurants while they transition back to indoor-only service as winter approaches.
Connecticut is also extending its noneviction policy for tenants who are in arrears; that policy was scheduled to expire today but will be extended through Dec. 31. A $140 million “rent relief” program is being rolled out to allow tenants and landlords to negotiate payment plans that will allow the former to remain in their apartments for another three to six months.
Hopes for another federal economic stimulus bill are fading, the governor said, as the election gets closer. Nevertheless, Lamont said: “If I was investing, I”™d be long on Connecticut right now. We”™re in better shape from a public health point of view, an economic point of view, and we were hit less hard by revenue shortfalls” thanks to the rainy day fund. “Some of our neighboring states are borrowing right now” to meet their expenses, he remarked.
The governor doubled down on Connecticut”™s approach to the pandemic: “If we can”™t get our public health right, we”™ll never get the economy right.”
That sentiment was shared by Stamford Mayor David Martin, who preceded Lamont. Prioritize the economy over public health, he said, “and you”™ll lose health and you”™ll lose the economy.”
Martin praised Lamont”™s leadership and his fellow mayors and first selectmen, who he said had come together to fight the pandemic rather than each other.
Of the city, Martin said, “We”™re doing better than I thought we”™d be doing,” with tax collections ahead of estimates and its revenue line “not as robust as it was, but still okay.”
“I am still nervous ”“ how can you not be?” Martin said. “But I”™m feeling like we can get there.”
Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Heather Cavanagh presented Dr. Rohit Bhalla, senior vice president of clinical affairs & quality, and chief clinical & quality officer at Stamford Health, with its “Company of the Year” award, and Brad Lupinacci, vice president, commercial banking officer, Business Banking Division at First County Bank, with its “Member of the Year” award.
People”™s United Bank and Stamford Health co-sponsored the event.
