Governor Ned Lamont addressed the need to hire a Boston consulting firm, which will be used for the state’s reopening efforts once the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Board winds down next week, during Friday’s press briefing.
In a previous briefing, Governor Lamont said the price to hire the firm would be $2 million, but he explained it was a cost that could be reimbursed by the federal government.
During Friday’s briefing, FOX61’s Tony Terzi asked Governor Lamont about the firm after getting emails from viewers who questioned the cost.
“We’ve received e-mails from viewers who are upset by that saying, ‘in these financial times, should be spending this money?’ Now, I understand the federal government will be reimbursing us, but essentially it’s the taxpayers who are paying for it – isn’t that correct?” Terzi asked.
Governor Lamont replied, “Yeah Tony. Look – the feds have dished out about several trillion dollars. We’re looking at a billion-dollar deficit. My priority right now is to make sure we get through this COVID pandemic – maximum priority on public health and public safety – and then get people back to work as prudently and quickly as I can. I want to get the very best minds I can. Not just for this state but as we work on a regional basis to make sure we get this done right. We’ve talked to the legislative leaders about the consultant and how they’re going to pick up where the reopen group has left off. I think this is a very prudent investment that, as you point out, is fully reimbursed by the federal government to make sure we get this right with the very best people guiding us.”
“It’s not something that you and your administration could handle on your own without incurring a $2 million cost?” Terzi asked.
“To tell you the truth - I don’t think we could,” Governor Lamont said. “I’m still getting to know state government. There are amazing people here with a great deal of expertise. But – look there weren’t a lot of Dr. [Albert] Ko’s and all the people we brought in on the scientific side to advise us when it came to a brand-new pandemic like COVID. When it comes to the implementation of a track and trace policy – I’d like the very best people to advise us on how we’re doing this and learn from the best practices of other states. We’re all sort of feeling our way a little bit here, but let’s get the most experienced people we can to advise us."
According to officials, the consulting group has a focus on COVID and COVID responses and is being used by some of Connecticut’s neighboring states.
“It’s one more way we can better coordinate our efforts there. They’re also being used by the 7-state consortium. So when it comes to track and trace, when it comes to testing strategies when it comes to openings and closings, ways we can coordinate on a regional basis – they’ll be there working right alongside our different departments and commissioners – lending us the expertise they’ve got as we ramp up implementation,” Governor Lamont said. “The Reopen Connecticut team is winding down next week. They put in place the very best health metrics we had. We’re testing now against those metrics to see how we’re doing. Now we have to implement for the next three months and BCG is going to help us get started there.”
“The interventions that we’re putting in place from a public health perspective – a wide variety of things that have never been done before in state government here in Connecticut or really anywhere else, and linking that to our efforts to essentially re-engineer our entire economy as we move into this reopening phase and link the two - I think most people can appreciate is a complex piece of work. Having some people who can work side by side with us – 18 hours a day 7 days a week – bringing in all the inputs were getting from all the stakeholders is incredibly important to our effort to move at the speed that this crisis demands and do so in the smartest way as possible,” said Josh Geballe, the state’s Chief Operating Officer.
FOX61 also asked the Governor’s Office to provide an update on a small working group for Dentist and Dental Hygienists. We were told there is “draft guidance,” that could be agreed upon as soon as today.
“That provides a good set of guidelines that both the hygienists and dentists are in agreement on,” Geballe said.
According to Paul Mounds, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, the state is also collaborating with the Connecticut Dental Association to work on supporting PPE needs for the dental industry.
“We have connected them with our procurement teams to be able to vet reliable vendors as the dental industry is looking to get back to capacity,” Mounds said.
“So those elective procedures will continue as planned for next Wednesday?” Terzi asked.
“That’s going to be the decisions of independent practices. As Josh has said, we convened the group of dental hygienists, dentists, OSHA team, to really come through with more thorough guidelines as we look forward to May 20th,” Mounds responded.
Governor Lamont invited Tom Moriarty, the Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer of CVS Health, to Friday’s briefing to speak about new COVID-19 testing sites in Connecticut, which are some of the first in the country.
Twelve sites launched Friday in Connecticut, including two in Hartford. These sites do not use the 15-minute Abbott test. Instead, they use a nasal swab, which is sent to a regional lab. The results are returned in roughly 48 hours. CVS expects to launch 1,000 of these at pharmacy locations across the country with 25 planned for Connecticut by the end of the month. The company’s goal is to run 1.5 million tests per month.
When asked if anyone could get tested at this point, Governor Lamont replied, “I think it’s symptoms and mild symptoms.”
Moriarty added, “Obviously, the focus at the large-scale testing sites initially was on first responders, essential workers, and those with symptoms. As the situations evolve and we start getting into asymptomatic questions and the ability to identify folks who may have been in contact – these testing criteria are going to evolve to meet those needs.”
Officials also announced several contact tracing systems went live with the first three local health departments onboarded and trained earlier this week.
“We’ve got actual live data, live cases now working through that process,” said Geballe. “They’re making great progress. Over 300 people onboarded with credentials to participate in that process … additional trainings and additional local health departments being onboarded every day for the next week.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19, which are a key metric in monitoring the virus in the state, decreased by 70 from Thursday, Governor Lamont announced.
“That’s the biggest one day drop we’ve had in sometime,” Governor Lamont said. “That’s about 40% less than our peak a few weeks ago. That’s a key trend that continues in the right direction.”
With Memorial Day around the corner and nice weather on tap for the weekend, Governor Lamont also spoke about how social distancing could be enforced at beaches.
“DEEP hasn’t closed down any of these parks that I know of. I think what they’ve done is said – we’re limiting the amount of parking at these places. So sometime in the middle of the day or early afternoon – if they’re loved to death – we have closed down the parks at that point,” Governor Lamont said.
He added, “I don’t think we’re going to have state troopers walking around the beaches, but I do think that local municipalities are going to be monitoring that very closely. If there are lifeguards – I hope that they’re paying attention to it. If you’re there and you see some people acting in a way that does not promote public health – I hope you speak to them.”
He explained the Katie Dykes, the commissioner of DEEP, is looking into a way to charge out-of-staters for visiting beaches, but he urged them not to.
“Don’t come, stay at home. Your beaches in Rhode Island are pretty nice by the way,” Governor Lamont said.