HARTFORD, Conn. — The focus of Governor Ned Lamont’s briefing was the plan to reopen Connecticut, although there was confusion surrounding the date of May 20th- when many thought the state was set to reopen.
During Governor Lamont’s news conference a viewer sent us an email asking:
“The May 20th date now seems to be a date that is the deadline of when the task force is to report back, not a date as to when we can start to open certain sectors of business...Can the date be clarified as to what that date actually represents?”.
State officials clarified May 20th is not the reopening date for the state, but rather it is the day the Reopen Task Force is set to present an in-depth reopening plan to Governor Lamont.
“May 20th is the date we hope to have more information on testing, more information on contact tracing and more information in terms of the gowns and protective gear, all which will help inform how and when we get our economy open again,” Lamont said.
The advisory board said the reopening plan is centered around four measures 1) public health 2) opening small businesses 3) opening colleges and universities and 4) community support, protecting the vulnerable population.
“At this point what we’re doing is developing a range of scenarios and figuring out how to put numbers behind it, so we can make a decision before the may 20th date when we have to come to you and really talk about what’s our future in Connecticut in 3-4 months,” Task Force Co-Chair Indra Nooyi said.
The Task Force said the business side is working on how to reopen the state by sections in a safe way.
“We have to think about what testing is needed, what hospital capacity, what kind of traffic moves between countries or areas of the state, so if u decide to open one piece we know what the consequences can be for infections,” Nooyi said.
While on the medical side of planning, they’re focused on increasing testing capacity and strategies to limit future outbreaks.
“We need to have that capacity to protect and detect transmission in the community so we can safeguard the health of our population and our citizens and testing is also an important intervention of how we are going to protect critical and vulnerable citizens of our communities and then we need to also use testing to inform better decision making, in respect to not only reopening the economy but also schools,” Co-Chair Dr. Albert Ko said.
The Task Force said this is not a simple decision, for every scenario they have to consider the public health consequences.
Watch Thursday's full press conference below:
