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April 9, 2020

Lamont to extend restaurant, bar shutdown

Photo | CT Mirror/MARK PAZNIOKAS Gov. Ned Lamont at a recent COVID-19 briefing at Bristol Hospital.
By Michael Bingham

Gov. Ned Lamont will extend the executive order mandating that public schools in Connecticut remain closed until May 20, the governor said Thursday.

During a small-business conference call with David Lehman, commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic & Community Development, Lamont said he also intended to extend the restaurant and bar shutdown from the previously announced April 30 targeted reopening date to May 20.

The governor was responding to a phoned-in question from a restaurant owner about whether he could expect to reopen for business by the previously announced April 30 target date.

“I regret to say that we’re going to announce within a day or so that public schools will remain closed for at least another month — until May 20,” Lamont said. “I would assume that you can say the same thing about bars and restaurants and some of our other businesses,” he added.

Following the call, David Bednarz of the governor’s office issued a clarification regarding business closings:

“In his remarks, the governor was saying that the date for the bar and restaurant closures will likely also be extended to some point yet to be determined,” Bednarz wrote. However, “The governor is not yet taking action regarding bars and restaurants.”

On March 17 Lamont joined the governors of New York and New Jersey when he issued an executive order mandating the closing of restaurants and bars that serve food for eating in. Movie theaters, fitness centers and recreational facilities were ordered shuttered at the same time.

“The general theme [of questions during the teleconference] is, ‘When can I get back to work, when can I get my business going again?” Lamont said during the Thursday afternoon teleconference. “Everything we’re trying to do at the state level is doing what we can to keep businesses intact.”

“But I’m a little scared that if we move too fast and take too much risk, we’re liable to have a second [outbreak] of this virus, which would just be tragic for everybody,” he said.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include a clarification from the governor's office.

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1 Comments

Anonymous
April 20, 2020

Look at China. Round 2 in progress. It seams the people who got it will get it again. It sits dormant and then comes back. The question is during the dormant period is it still actively spreading? So keep up what we are doing until it is known. Keep it under control until the variables are known.

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