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February 12, 2021

Events industry pleads for quick action on allowing large gatherings

Photo | HBJ File The Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.
By Liese Klein

Event venues, restaurants and sports facilities may hear as soon as early next week about the possibility of opening to crowds larger than 150 people, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday, responding to an urgent plea from an industry suffering steep losses from pandemic restrictions.

“We’re watching the variants,” Lamont said at his weekly briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Asked about New York’s recent decision to allow large events starting March 15, Lamont said “These are the type of things we are going to consider. I think early next week we’ll be in a position to make some clear direction on that.”

Lamont was responding to a joint statement from the Connecticut Restaurant Association, Connecticut Event Industry Coalition and the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau released earlier on Thursday that outlined the dire prospects for businesses if pandemic restrictions continued. 

“If our customers and their families continue to cancel events for the spring and summer, our industry will lose another year of activity, a devastating blow to Connecticut’s economy,” the statement said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Jan. 29 that his state would permit wedding receptions to resume on March 15 but only with the approval of the local health department, a 50% capacity limit and a 150-person limit on attendance. All guests must also be tested for COVID-19 infection prior to the event, according to New York rules.

Because of the renewed surge in COVID-19 cases that started in November, Connecticut limits gatherings at venues to 25 people indoors and 50 people outdoors. 
 

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