HARTFORD, Conn. — Governor Lamont has signed an executive order that takes effect Monday night at 8 PM. It requires face coverings. Some people think it’s a great idea to help flatten the curve while others say it’s a governmental overstep.
The executive order doesn’t require you to wear a mask just for being outside, but it does say that you have to wear one if you can’t keep at least six feet away from another person. Since the COVID-19 crisis began. Governor Ned Lamont has signed 29 executive orders. His newest kicks in at 8 PM. It requires you to wear a mask in public when social distancing isn’t possible.
"It’s really guided by common sense, if you're an employer provide your employee a mask and especially if you’re a grocery store, and if you can't get a surgical masks, and we’re getting more of those from the state, then provide a scarf or bandanna, if you're walking around and you’re in a crowded area, you can’t keep that six feet social distance then you should MUST put on a mask protect yourself," said Gov. Ned Lamont.
The executive order says it can even be a cloth face covering like a scarf or a t-shirt. "I think it’s creating a little more safety from what I’ve read but as you can see it’s a pain. My glasses are fogging up," remarked Shannon DiPrato of Newington.
With everyone staying home, the executive order would apply mostly when shopping at the grocery store. "I just had a man at the register come too close to me I felt. My daughter works on the ambulance and I threw the hand out," said DiPrato.
The executive order doesn’t apply to children under the age of two or people who can’t cover their faces for medical reasons. "At first I wasn’t sure but then I was thinking it’s kind of like the seatbelt thing. We all should do it but now it just makes it without question that it’s what you should do," said DiPrato.
But Stamford based criminal defense attorney Lindy Urso has heard enough. "It seems to me like it’s almost an effort to see just how much we will take," he said.
Urso filed a legal complaint against the governor calling the order executive overreach. "I feel very very strongly that in times of crisis we need to be most vigilant in protecting our civil liberties against government overreach. I think we learned that the hard way in hindsight after 9/11. Much of our privacy was decimated," said Urso.
The Governor's newest executive order also requires you to wear a mask when you use mass transit, get into a taxi or rideshare service or are just waiting at the bus stop. It also rescheduled the presidential primary for a second time to August 11th.