With a wary eye on states like Florida, Texas and Arizona ”“ where COVID-19 cases have spiked, possibly due to reopening businesses too quickly ”“ Gov. Ned Lamont announced this afternoon that the third phase of Connecticut’s reopening strategy has been put on pause “for the foreseeable future.”
Originally posited for sometime in mid-July, phase 3 ”“ which would have allowed for greater than the current 50% indoor capacity limit at restaurants and bars that serve food, as long as they follow a number of restrictions ”“ will now be delayed.
Also gone for now are plans to increase the number of people attending indoor private gatherings from 25 to 50 people, and for those at outdoor private gatherings to go from 100 to 250.
Lamont had hinted last week that such a delay was likely.
“Look, I like a beer at the bar as much as the next person,” the governor said. However, he added, the state will “err on the side of caution.”
Asked if bars that do not serve food could move operations outside, as restaurants have done, Lamont said no, as social distancing measures would be difficult to maintain. He allowed that he could be open to further discussion on the matter.
Asking holiday travelers from states with high infection rates such as Florida, Texas and Arizona to rethink coming to Connecticut ”“ the state advertised in those states on Facebook and netted over 1 million impressions, Lamont said ”“ resulted in twice as many ticket cancellations as the airlines had expected, according to the governor. More data on how many out-of-state visitors the state received over the extended July 4 weekend should be available tomorrow, he said.
Josh Geballe, the state”™s COO, noted that attendants on each airline flying out of Bradley Airport are reading PSAs about Connecticut”™s regulations on face coverings, quarantining and the like.
The state”™s latest COVID-19 data, which covered all three days of the holiday weekend, netted 24,692 additional tests for a total of 522,385, resulting in 259 more positive results for a total of 46,976. Hospitalizations were down by 26 to 69, while another three deaths brought that total to 4,338.
Such trends are allowing the state to increase contact tracing, the governor said. There are now 885 tracers, with 47% of cases successfully contacted and 96% of those being followed up on within 48 hours.
